Across the Universe
by KaleidoscopeEyes213
Summary: An unlikely friendship forms between a boy who vowed not to follow in his father's footsteps and a girl who formerly thought being friendless was for the best. They inspire each other to make a change. There is just one problem; nither of them exist.
1. Prologue: A Beginning

**Prologue: A Beginning**

A small boy with shaggy black hair and slate grey eyes ambled along the sidewalk, taking deep breaths of the fresh outdoor air as he smiled happily. He hated being cooped up by his father in that house, never able to get out into the wide open spaces of the great outdoors, wishing for what was not the first time that he had a mum to break the monotony of life alone with his dad.

He didn't really miss his mother—after all, it's hard to miss something you never had in the first place—but he often longed for a mother in general. It would be lovely to have someone to sing him to sleep; to hold him when he cried and tell him that everything would be okay; to actually pay attention to him… It was obvious that, while he didn't miss his mother, his father certainly did. Maybe that was why the man never had any time for his son, and preferred to spend it with his whiskey and his memories. The older man had grown up with just a mother, but the boy thought he'd gladly exchange his single father for a mother.

Whatever his reasons for plastering himself, the boy's father had ended up passed out on the floor as per usual. But this time the boy had decided to take advantage of his father's lack of consciousness by sneaking out of the confines of his dusty old home, which he assumed hadn't been subject to a decent cleaning since before the eight-year-old was born.

He had found in the time since he'd escaped the old prison that he liked the outside world very much indeed; he decided that he really had to start coming out here more often. At the moment, he was off to the park, a place to which he'd asked a kind old woman for directions that she had gladly provided. He felt so free as he made his way to an unfamiliar place that was sure to be filled with fun, excitement and adventure.

A little girl sat on her heels in the sandbox, her silky black hair swept behind her ears in order to prevent it from hanging in her face and blocking her vision as she concentrated on the sand castle she was currently constructing with careful precision. Her eyebrows were furrowed as her clear blue eyes focused solely on the structure before her, not picking up on the child standing at her side, looking curiously down at her as she worked.

She only looked up as a voice spoke from beside her; the girl started slightly as her concentration was broken. "That's good." She looked up to see a boy with shaggy black hair standing next to her, pointing at her castle in indication of what he was referring to as "good." She cocked her head slightly to the side, studying him for a moment, before muttering a quiet, "thank you," and returning to the task at hand.

"So… do you come here often," the boy questioned, not knowing how else to attempt conversation when his first tactics had obviously failed.

She returned her gaze to his face, her expression indeterminable but her eyes calculating, before giving an answer in the same quiet voice as before. "Not often really, no." She lifted a thin shoulder slightly before letting in drop in a small half-shrug. She didn't elaborate further or return his question with one of her own, but he grinned down at her just the same, realizing that he'd found something about them that they shared, however impersonal and uninteresting as it was.

"Well, I don't come here often, either. Actually, this is my first time." The girl simply nodded her head, not even deigning to look up at him this time as she continued to meticulously sculpt the mount of dirt before her.

The boy was becoming slightly frustrated at her lack of response, but he pushed the emotion down as he dropped to his haunches beside her, pulling his legs toward himself and criss-crossing them. He was determined to get this girl to speak with him; she was the first person he'd ever met who was his own age, after all, and he didn't want to distance her and lose his only chance at friendship by snapping.

Her reserved demeanor intrigued him, and he wanted to see if he would be able to coax her out of her shell. She hardly seemed to register his sudden movement, other than scooting slightly so that she increased the distance between them by a hairs breadth. Perhaps he shouldn't initiate conversation, and rather just wait for her to talk to him; after all, he didn't want to continue making vain attempts at starting a discussion and risk annoying her.

After a while of sitting silently and patiently waiting for the girl to speak with him, the boy's face dropped in disappointment as she stood up and brushed her hands off against her shorts before turning and walking away, leaving her castle standing in the sandbox in her wake. The boy vowed that he would continue coming to the park until the girl decided to finally open up to him, and a resolute determination settled itself within him. When an older boy walked over and made to stomp on the sand structure, the black haired boy glared at him until he reluctantly lowered his foot and walked away.

It was several days until the girl returned to the park, the boy making his way to the aforementioned place every day in anticipation of her finally coming back. When she did, she simply glanced at him for a moment with her calculating blue eyes before returning to the sand box to rebuild the castle that had since been returned to the nondescript pile of sand it once was. She rectified the structure and, when she was finished, she walked off again without having said one word to the boy.

Again she was absent for several days before returning once more and rebuilding the structure for a third time. This soon became recognizable to the boy as a pattern that she followed, every time coming to the sand box and recreated the structure, improving upon it every time she returned.

One day after this had been going on for a while, she had come back to resurrect the structure for the umpteenth time when the older boy who had tried to ruin her castle on the first day came up to them and sneered, raising his foot in the air with the obvious intention of crushing the structure that the girl had worked so hard to build. The steely-eyed boy with the shaggy black hair jumped up from his place on the ground and stood between the bigger boy and the castle, barring his way. The older boy scowled and walked away in a huff.

"Thank you," the girl whispered, the appreciation and relief clearly evident in her tone and her eyes. The boy just smiled down at her in reply, doing an internal victory dance at having finally received verbal recognition after all those days of silence. She continued to work on her castle then, saying nothing more for the remainder of their time at the park.

When she stood to leave, however, she graced him with a small smile, and as she walked away, she turned back and raised a hand hesitantly before wiggling her fingers. He waved jovially back, watching her as she turned again and continued on her way, a feeling of satisfaction filling him.

To the boy's surprise and delight, she returned the very next day. Since that first day, something had changed for the boy; she was no longer just an interesting potential friend who he wanted to talk to because she presented a challenge. He now genuinely cared for her, and sincerely wanted to get her to open up to him, or at least in some way show him that his feelings of camaraderie were mutual.

As she set about rebuilding the castle, he smiled over at her, watching her motions as she focused all of her attention on the structure before her. He noticed when a shadow passed over her and her castle, glancing up to see that the same boy was back, only this time he'd brought two others along with him. The younger boy stood in front of the girl but the bigger kids used their combined strength to push him over, and he fell onto the girl's castle, crushing it under his weight. The other boys snickered maliciously before striding away in triumph.

The small boy looked up at the girl from his position with his back against the ground, the concern and fear showing on his features. He pushed himself quickly into a sitting position and scooted off her ruined castle. "I'm sorry," he whispered, hanging his head in shame. She would hate him now; he was sure of it. All of his progress would have been for naught, and they would likely never regain the ground he'd just lost them.

He was caught completely off-guard when she leaned forward and wordlessly wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. Shocked speechless, the boy had returned her soft smile with a much larger, more giddy one of his own before she got to her feet and bid him farewell by raising her hand in a solute. He returned it and she spun around, walking away, leaving the boy grinning madly at the events that had just transpired.

The next day they sat together in the sand pit as usual, the girl working and the boy looking on in interest, when the girl spoke suddenly, breaking the customary silence that had engulfed them up until that point. "That was brave, what you did back there," she announced softly, glancing quickly over at him before returning her gaze to the sand castle. The boy thanked her, and she noticed him blushing at the compliment; he did not say anything more, allowing the silence to once again wash over them. The quiet only lasted for a moment, however, as the girl continued to talk.

"My mother doesn't know I come here," she informed him quietly, casting him a sidelong glance to gauge his reaction. She watched as a grin spread slowly over his face as he responded. "My father doesn't ever know I'm here, either," he informed her. She nodded slowly, taking in this new information. It would seem that this was something they had in common, and she was secretly pleased with this fact, although her carefully blank expression did not show it. She was always guarded, never showing others what she was thinking or feeling lest they use her own emotions against her. This had come in handy whenever those boys came over to tease her.

The black haired boy's first encounter with the older boys had not been the first time she'd met them; in fact, they'd been working for a while to make her life miserable. She never rose to their taunts, deciding to just ignore them instead. But then the grey eyed boy had stood up to them, and she was very impressed and rather pleased; if he would go up against those gits just to help her out, he really was a good friend.

Friend; the term was quite foreign to her. She'd never had a friend before, seeing as she didn't go out often before the boy showed up and when she did nobody bothered to befriend the quiet little girl sitting alone in the sandbox. This boy was different, though; he was kind and brave, eager yet patient. And he had seen her sitting all by herself and felt that she deserved a friend, so he'd decided to do everything he could to become one. And she really did appreciate it.

She'd never thought she would find a friend, seeing as her parents were lathe to let her out of the house lest someone find out who they were. For some reason, her mum and dad were convinced that they would be viewed as imposters and receive much unwanted attention. She had no clue as to why this was, however; what was so special about her family?

At any rate, she was happy to finally have someone she could call a friend. They continued the tentative conversation, and she slowly opened up more and more as the discussion progressed, even sometimes giving him a soft smile or showing on her face some other glimpse into her mind and emotions. By the end she knew that bright red was his favorite color, he liked eating everything imaginable in copious amounts, that he was deathly afraid of spiders and that he was eight years old, just like her, among other things. She told him that she liked pale mint green, shepherd's pie and was scared of clowns.

"What would you say if… if I told you that I was a… a wizard?" he questioned hesitantly, looking her in the eyes to see the thoughts that passed through her mind as she processed his statement. A slow smile graced her features as she replied quietly, "I'd tell you that I'm a witch." She looked up at him with knowing eyes that sparkled with delight at finding that her newfound friend was magical like her. His face broke out in a wide grin.

"You know, you're the first friend I've ever had," she said quietly, smiling softly at him. He returned the gentle smile before speaking in the same soft voice, "And you're my first friend too." They returned to their normal activities, the girl building her castle as the boy looked on, but something was different now; something between them had changed. Both of them were ecstatic at finally having found a friend, and they knew that things would only get better from here as they grew closer. And they both knew that they would never again have to feel alone.


	2. Chapter 1: Magical Mystery Tour

**Disclaimer:** I forgot this last time… Well, I own nothing except for the plot and my own original characters. And every single one of the books and movies, plus a wand (I bought it from a magazine), AND some HP stickers.

**Chapter 1: Magical Mystery Tour**

He never thought he'd feel guilty for leaving his father, but here he was, sitting alone on a bench on the empty platform with his stomach in knots of shame that seemed to be eating away at his very soul. He wished it would go away; it wasn't as though his father deserved those guilty feelings anyway. Even more strange and unsettling, however, was the idea that he actually, in a way, kind of—_almost_—missed the man. How truly absurd! He lifted his hand to his face and swept his shaggy black hair out of his slate grey eyes; even at the tender age of eleven, he could already easily be considered handsome. His sloped forehead, high cheekbones and straight nose gave him a haughty, aristocratic air that belied his easy, relaxed disposition which only showed in his expression and the casual way in which he held himself.

He was already quite muscular, although the true well-built physique that came with adolescence had not yet graced his strong limbs. He was caught somewhere in between being a child and a young adult; his childhood days were just memories now of a time long gone, but the realm of his teenage years still loomed somewhere in the future. He sat on the bench waiting for hours on end, the train pulling into the station before people slowly began to trickle in; the early arrivals who stepped onto the platform were children with Muggle parents who wanted to ensure their sons and daughters' safety and happiness in the new and unfamiliar world of witches, wizards and magic.

Speaking of parents; the boy himself had snuck out two days ago while his father was out of commission for the afternoon, swiping his father's Gringotts key from its place in the old man's dresser. He'd filled his pockets with all of the pocket money he'd earned from doing odd jobs around the old Muggle neighborhood in which he lived. It had been enough for a bus to Diagon Alley and from there he'd gone to the old wizard's bank to make a withdrawal. He'd also set up another account in which he deposited the money that his mother had left for him in her will. She had been from a great pureblood family, and so her fortune had been extensive. The boy was, in fact, a pureblood; not that he cared, really, anyway. All of the prejudices of his ancestors had been lost on him.

He was, of course, too young to set up an account without his father's permission, but he'd gotten his father to sign a paper last night in his drunken state that allowed the boy to make the deposit. He had come home that night and asked his father if he could go to Hogwarts, and the old man had exploded in his face, so the boy had done the only thing he could think of; he'd run away. Early that morning he'd awoken and composed a note telling his father where he was going and that he was never coming back. And so now, here he sat, alone on a bench on the slowly filling platform, his trunk sitting beside him and a knot of guilt sitting within him.

His best friend had owled him the night before, informing him that her parents had agreed to letting her go to Hogwarts. He was excited to see her again, even though they had met up at the park just last week. The platform was now packed with people as the time of departure arrived, and the boy was glad that the place was no longer eerily empty, and now bustling with excitement. He smiled as the fog that hung in the air from the train's puffing smokestack lifted for a moment and he caught sight of a large family by the last compartment of the train.

The family was standing around chatting happily, smiling and laughing and hugging and kissing. The boy looked on wistfully; what he wouldn't give for a big family like that, where everyone loved and cared for each other, joked around, and saw the children off with a hug, a kiss, a smile and a wave. Perhaps if he'd had a mother, she would have been kind and gentle and loving, but he wouldn't know. The black haired man who seemed to be the head of the family bent down and spoke softly to a boy who looked just like him.

The shaggy-haired boy broke his longing gaze away from the large group of happy people when he spotted another, far smaller family out of the corner of his eye. He leapt up, forgetting completely about the trunk beside him as he ran over, screaming "_Evie_!" at the top of his lungs. He received some stares from the platform's occupants but he paid them no heed as he flew through the crowd of bustling people. He reached his target, colliding with a thin girl whose soft, straight black hair reached a point halfway between her chin and shoulders; he threw his arms around her, engulfing her in a bear hug and bowling her over.

She lay on the ground beneath him for a minute, looking slightly dazed before shoving him off of her and clamoring to her feet. She dusted herself off and turned to glare at her assailant, but her lips twitched upward at the corners in an automatic response to his wide, excited grin. She never could stay mad at him for long, especially when he was in such a chipper mood. "Hello Roo," she said quietly, her lips still lifted slightly in a half-smile as she surveyed her best friend, her clear blue eyes sparkling.

He smiled at the nickname, which he had received at some point towards the beginning of their friendship for reasons he could no longer quite recall. While the birth of the name had fled his memories, the moniker itself had stuck over the years. The girl's parents smiled kindly at him; on her ninth birthday, Evie's parents had finally deigned her old enough to go out into the outside world, unaware that she had already been doing so for nearly a year. They held her under the responsibility of not telling anyone untrustworthy about herself and her family, and they trusted her judgment on who was reliable or not.

After a while, she had finally brought the boy to her home and introduced him to her parents as her best friend, and they had welcomed him with open arms. Ever since then, he had spent much of the time that his father was unconscious at his best friend's house where there was always food on the table and a pair of kind adults to talk to. This year they had agreed that it was time to return to the wizarding world by sending their daughter off to school, seeing as most of the danger of exposing themselves had passed.

Evie's father was a tall, thin man with black hair that was slightly greasy and a thin, sallow face, but his black eyes held a warmth that belied his rather undesirable appearance. He was rather solemn and didn't speak much, but he was kind and it was easy to see that he loved his children and wife. Her mother, on the other hand, was a beauty, with long flowing golden hair and dainty, delicate features. The beautiful woman was small and petite, with eyes as clear and blue as Evie's; a two-year-old boy with blonde hair and black eyes was settled on her hip.

Evie's parents stood on either side of her trolley, each looking at their daughter with a mixture of pride and sadness at the prospect of not seeing her until Christmas came; her mother even had tears in her eyes. Evie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the woman in a hug, whispering, "Bye, Mum. I love you." "Bye, sweetheart," her mother replied, bending slightly so that she could kiss her daughter's cheek and the girl could return the gesture, before they pulled apart—rather reluctantly on the mother's side—so that Evie could tickle her baby brother's belly, making him grin and giggle. "Bye bye, Romey," she said, smiling slightly.

"Bye bye," Jerome giggled back, giving her a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. She then leaned in to kiss his forehead before turning and maneuvering around the trolley to where her father stood. The shaggy haired boy felt hands grabbing him as Evie's mum engulfed him in a motherly hug. He returned the embrace; the sweet gesture made him smile to think that she cared about him as she said, "Bye, now, dear."

"Good-bye," he replied with a charming smile, which she fondly returned. He ruffled Jerome's hair before turning to see Evie hugging her father tightly and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't you get into too much trouble now, Evie," he began gruffly, obviously trying to hide his sadness. Then he added in a much softer, more emotional voice, "I'll miss you." Then the man turned to his daughter's best friend and extended a hand for the boy to shake, which he did; he then received a slap on the shoulder from Evie's dad and he grinned up at the older man, who gave him a small smile in return before they exchanged farewells.

"Bye, Dad. I'll miss you too." She stepped back then and surveyed her family one last time. "I love you guys," she said in her soft, quiet voice. As the two eleven-year-olds walked away from Evie's little family, they turned and waved, calling out their final goodbyes and, in Evie's case, shouting their love. Even though Evie spoke no louder than usual, her voice carried and her parents heard her words of farewell and affection, returning them.

The train let out a shrill whistle and the boy sprinted off to grab his bag from where he'd left it by the bench. He allowed a kind man to store his trunk on the train by the place where Evie's father was throwing hers before he ran to the nearest door and climbed onto the locomotive moments before it began to move. His friend was waiting just inside for him, and as he jumped in she turned and began to lead the way down the aisles in search of an empty compartment. They finally found one towards the middle of the train and fell into it, Evie sitting down on the window seat on one side of the compartment while her best friend stretched out on the entirety on the bench across from her.

"So," began Evie as soon as they made themselves comfortable. "Where was your dad?"

The boy groaned internally; his friend's arrival had quickly banished all thoughts of his father from his mind, but now that she mentioned the man everything he'd been worrying about came rushing back. He fingered the Hogwarts letter in his pocket, the reminder that he was going to have a new home now, starting a new life in the wizarding world where he belonged.

"He wasn't there. He told me I couldn't come to Hogwarts, said it was for my own protection but we three—him, you, and I—all know that he's really just too afraid to have to face the world after everything he's done to himself. He's always lived in a world where he's been able to hide away, and no one would know that he's wasting away. He doesn't want to show the world what he's become, what he's done to himself. Pore old sod might be able to live in nonexistence but I'm sick of it. So I ran away and came here. And I'm not going back; not ever."

Evie nodded slowly, taking in this information. He was glad to know that she wouldn't judge him, and that she would support his decision wholeheartedly, just as she always did, whether or not she agreed that what he was doing was the right thing. She wouldn't tell him that he was just young and reckless; she would understand that he'd made a serious decision, having considered every possible angle and coming out with this as the best option. As sad as it was, he knew his father would never change, and so did she. "So, Roo… where are you going to live, then?" she asked quietly.

The boy shrugged glumly, his expression nothing short of miserable. "I don't know," he began softly, sighing. "And at the moment, I don't really care, as long as it's not with him in that old prison of a house," he added, his voice getting stronger and more determined with every word that he spoke.

"You know," Evie said suddenly, "my parents wouldn't mind if you came to live with us. Mum already loves you, and Dad does too, really. And as far as Romey's concerned, you're already as good as his big brother." 

The boy smiled in thanks, but shook his head nonetheless. "I couldn't impose on you guys like that." When Evie opened her mouth to protest, he lifted a hand to silence her, continuing, "You know I'd love to if I could; you guys are great and I love you all, too. But I couldn't, Evie." She slumped back in her seat, nodding gloomily in understanding.

The boy was already in his robes, since he'd changed at some point during his long hours waiting for the train to arrive and depart. Evie, however, was still dressed in her Muggle jeans and jumper with a scuffed pair of Converse on her feet. He gestured to her ensemble, saying, "You better go get dressed." She nodded and stood, leaving the compartment to change her clothes. When she was gone, the boy took his wand out of his robes and began twirling it in his fingers, thinking of spells that he could practice during the long train ride. He'd read all of his books as soon as he'd returned home from Diagon Alley, staying up late into the night to finish them.

Thinking of something easy to practice that wouldn't do any harm, he flicked his wand and muttered, "_Lumos_," under his breath, and the tip of his wand lit up. "_Nox_," he muttered, and the light went out again. "_Lumos. Nox. Lumos. Nox._" He continued on in this way for some time until he believed that he'd mastered the spell, moving on to another one. "_Wingardium Leviosa_," he muttered, but nothing happened. "_Wingardium Leviosa_," he repeated, and still nothing happened. He kept trying to get the spell right, again and again, but every time he failed. He was getting very frustrated when Evie returned, smiling softly at him and stifling her laughter as she watched him fruitlessly attempt to make his Hogwarts letter levitate.

He slumped back in his seat dejectedly, muttering, "I'll never get it right."

"Yes you will," argued his friend sternly. "You just have to do the right wand movement. It's a swish and flick. Go ahead, try it again," she encouraged. He made yet another attempt, this time moving his wand as instructed, and the parchment began to float higher and higher. He shouted out in triumph before returning his letter to the seat beside him, grinning at the girl before him.

"Evie," he informed her matter-of-factly, "_You_ are a genius." She just smiled slightly in reply, shrugging as thought to pass the comment off as nothing. As the train made its way toward their new school, they continued to practice this spell together, Evie joining in, until the trolley came by laden with delicious-looking snacks and candy. They decided to buy a bit of everything, seeing as this was the first time either of them had ever eaten wizarding candy before. They pooled their money to invest in the entire contents of the trolley and the boy immediately fell upon the food with an appetite so ravenous you would have thought he was a starving child.

"You know, you're really disgusting when you eat," said Evie conversationally, smiling wryly up at him. He just grinned in reply, his cheeks bulging with all of the sweets he'd managed to jam into his mouth, saying something unintelligible in reply that sounded awfully like, "Growing boys need their calories," and spraying crumbs from the pumpkin pasty he'd eaten all over her. She made a disgusted face and wiped off her cheek where the remnants of his chewed food had landed. "Eew, that's so gross," she muttered.

Swallowing, he grinned before apologizing rather insincerely. "Sorry," he said cheekily, earning him a frown from his friend. She lifted up a box of Every Flavor Beans and examined it. "Hey, Roo, do you think they really have every flavor of bean in this thing," she asked, holding up the object in question. He took it from her and studied it more closely. "Dunno," he replied finally, before his face broke into a wicked grin. "But there's only one way to find out."

After earthworm, dirt, vomit, and earwax beans had been promptly spit out of the boy's mouth, and tutti frutti, apple cinnamon, cherry and marshmallow beans had been successfully digested by Evie, the box had been set aside and the boy had taken a deck of cards out of his pocket that he'd purchased in Diagon Alley. "Exploding Snap," he read aloud, looking at the card with the instructions on it. He read the rules and handed it over to his friend, allowing her to read it as well. "Sounds simple enough," she announced, and he agreed, grinning over at her before taking out the cards and shuffling them, just for good measure. They began their card game as the train continued to chug along on its way to Hogwarts, where excitement and adventure were sure to await them.


	3. Chapter 2: Don't Pass Me By

**Disclaimer:** Once again, I do not own Harry Potter; I know, it's a big shock.

**Chapter 2: Don't Pass Me By**

Albus Severus Potter grinned as the train pulled up at the Hogsmead station, excitement bubbling up in his chest at the anticipation of finally entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the subject of so many of his father's greatest stories. He was still slightly nervous about the sorting, but his father's words had put most of his fears to rest, making room for enthusiastic anticipation. As he and Rose stepped off of the train, he looked out at the distant form of Hogwarts, and was struck with a sense of awe at its magnificent beauty. So far, it was only a speck on the horizon, a pinpoint of light atop a tall hill. He could only imagine how majestic it would look once he got closer to it.

Suddenly, Hagrid's gruff voice reached his ears as he called out over the sound of hundreds of students talking amongst their friends as they walked along the platform looking for their trunks and other luggage. "Firs' years over here! Firs' years!" boomed the friendly half-giant, and Albus made his way over to the shaggy head sticking up above the rest of the crowd, his cousin by his side. Hagrid's height made him easily distinguishable for all of the younger, much shorter people packed onto the platform. When the youngest Potter boy and his cousin stopped in front of the enormous man, Hagrid smiled down at them. "Albus! Rosie!" he cried, giving both the green eyed boy and his bushy-haired cousin thundering pats on the back with each of his massive hands, causing the two to sway dangerously and nearly lose their balance.

"Hey, Hagrid," called Rose cheerfully, waving at the large man who beamed down at her. "Hello Hagrid," Albus reiterated, smiling up at the big man. From somewhere across the platform there was a shout of, "Hey Evie, first years over there!" which could be heard easily by Albus, even over the loud chattering of hundreds of excited students.

"I _know_, Roo, I'm not deaf," came the exasperated reply; it was a girl's voice, quiet but carrying clearly across the platform. "Although I will be if you keep yelling in my ear; I'm only three feet away from you!" Albus grinned at the girl's sarcasm as the rest of the first years began to gather around the half-giant Care of Magical Creatures teacher. When everyone was accounted for, they began the trek towards the boats that they would be riding across the Black Lake in order to reach the castle that would be their home for the upcoming school year and six more after that.

When they finally reached the shore of the lake where the boats were docked, they looked out across the water to gaze in wonder at the amazing sight before them. The grand, well-lit castle stood out in stark relief against the inky black sky beyond, and its reflection blinked up at them from the surface of the water, hiding the dark depths of the lake from view. It really was an awe-inspiring image, the regal castle sitting atop a hill from across a dark expanse of fathomlessly deep water.

Hagrid's loud voice shattered the reverent silence that had fallen over the first years as they stared in wonder at the large castle; "Four to a boat!" he boomed. Albus and Rose clamored into one little dingy with two other children that they didn't recognize; one was obviously Muggle-born, judging by his shocked and startled expression which quickly changed to one of awe as the boat began to cut through the placid, glasslike black water, slowly picking up speed.

Albus tuned his cousin out as she began to prattle on about everything she'd read up on the boats and the Black Lake in _Hogwarts: A History_, knowing that whatever she was saying she'd probably told him many times before. He figured her incessant chatter was her own way of releasing the pent up nervous energy that she was no doubt feeling concerning the impending sorting. The Muggle-born boy sitting in front of them, however, had his head turned to her so that he could listen with rapt attention about the new and exciting things he was experiencing. Albus smiled to himself; at least Rosie's ramblings were helping someone out.

As they got out of the boats and began walking toward the castle, Rose continued to give her running commentary on the grounds and the castle's outside appearance, explaining the Muggle-repelling charm and the way in which the castle was built. When they reached the huge oak double doors leading into the school, she was still talking, this time about the inside of the castle. When Hagrid left them in a room off of the entrance hall to wait to be sorted, she explained all about the sorting hat's origins and the way in which it sorted people. Eventually, when she began to unknowingly repeat herself, starting to sound less confident and more nervous, Albus put a gentle hand on her arm, successfully getting her to close her mouth.

From the back of the room Albus heard the soft, carrying voice from outside before they'd gotten on the boats as it stated quietly, "That one's a Ravenclaw for sure."

"Yeah, I bet you're right. Say, what house do you reckon I'll be sorted into?" asked the companion who had allegedly "deafened" her back at the platform, who was obviously male judging by his voice and his next comment. "I mean, I dunno; do the ladies like handsome, chivalrous, strapping young lads filled with courage," Albus could just imagine the boy flexing his biceps as he said this, "Or do they fancy the brainy, intellectual type?"

"Well, I suppose it really depends on the girl… beside, what makes you think you have any of those characteristics? You could just remain unsorted for your entire student career because you have no good qualities whatsoever," his companion suggested, and Albus could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

"I'm hurt," said the boy in an overdramatic, mock-wounded voice.

"I'm sure," the girl muttered in reply, no doubt rolling her eyes. Albus grinned; these two were definitely entertaining, and he liked them already. And, even better, their conversation seemed to have caught everyone's attention, so those who had been staring at him, an obvious relation the Boy-Who-Lived, had redirected their focus to the bantering pair towards the back of the room.

Their conversation stopped abruptly as the door suddenly swung open, revealing the Herbology professor Neville Longbottom standing on the other side. He smiled at them and asked them to follow him as he lead them into the Great Hall; they eyes of all the older students were trained on them as they entered the room and a hush fell over the Hall's occupants. Albus felt himself squirm under the hundreds of pairs of eyes that stared at him, and whispers broke out among the students as they recognized him. He tried to slouch a little so that he would hopefully be less conspicuous, but this did nothing to avert peoples' attention. They reached the front of the hall as old Professor Flitwick brought out the stool and the sorting hat, placing them at the head of the room in front of the staff table.

Suddenly, a rip in the brim of the tattered, patched old hat opened up and the not-so-inanimate object burst into song:

_Welcome, students, to Hogwarts School_

_Come seat yourselves upon this stool_

_So now just put on this old hat_

_Then I will tell you where you're at_

_Perhaps you'll go to Slytherin_

_Where they use any means in order to win_

_Their cunning surely is unmatched_

_If ambitious plans you hatch_

_Maybe you belong in Ravenclaw_

_If in your brains there is no flaw_

_Intellect is valued above all else_

_If you wish to better yourself_

_Or do you fit in Hufflepuff_

_Where they stick by you when the going gets tough_

_You'll find nobody who's more devoted_

_And their loyalty is duly noted_

_Then again, maybe you're a Gryffindor_

_Where nothing really matters more_

_Than bravery in the face of danger_

_And chivalry is not a stranger_

_Now, I may be torn and dirty_

_But appearances do lie_

_For when it comes to knowledge_

_Oh, filthy rich am I!_

As the hat finished its song, the students applauded accordingly, and the first years really started to squirm in anxiety as the sorting finally began. "Alderson, Stuart," became the first Hufflepuff, followed by "Andrews, Mary ," a Ravenclaw, and then there were three more Ravenclaws and another Hufflepuff before the Slytherin "Avery, Maurica," stepped up to the stool. Neville called out a string of about seven other names and suddenly paused, looking at one of the names on the list with shock and suspicion before abruptly moving on. As he called the next name, "Boris, Kent," a boy's voice spoke in an angry whisper from the back of the crowd.

"They skipped me!" hissed the voice angrily. "Did you see that, he passed right over my name!" A soft voice shushed him, and he harrumphed audibly but let the matter drop. Neville continued down the list, and "Malfoy, Scorpius" was called up to the stool. He sat there for an abnormally long time before the hat shouted out a word that left everyone gaping at the blonde, speechless. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Albus was happy to be once again relieved of all the unwanted attention he'd been receiving as the Great Hall burst into chatter. Once the resulting roar of shocked voices that sprung up after this announcement had been taken under control once again, the sorting continued once more. He himself was startled by this new development; a Malfoy in Gryffindor was simply unheard of. He felt a twinge of pity as he thought of how mad the boy's parents would likely be, based on his own father's description of their tempers.

After Neville had called many more names, some of which Albus recognized and more of which he didn't, it was finally his turn to make his way up to the three-legged stool he sat down and the hat was placed upon his head, flopping down over his eyes and engulfing his vision in a sudden cloak of darkness.

_Well, well_, the hat began, _it would seem that you are another Potter child. Well, this is interesting; it looks like you'd do rather well in Hufflepuff. You're loyal and kind, never thinking of yourself; definitely not Slytherin, you have hardly any sense of self-preservation, and not too keen on spending long hours studying, it would appear. So I suppose that rules out Ravenclaw as well. But there is definitely bravery in you; you hate to see others in trouble, and you enjoy helping people and standing up for the underdog. It would seem that you're pretty much evenly split between the two; well, I suppose you'd want to be with your family, so better be…_

"GRYFFINDOR!" roared the hat, and the table decked in red and gold erupted into applause, all of his cousins beaming at him from their seats around it. Albus turned to give Rose a reassuring smile before walking over to join his brother, who ruffled his hair as he sat himself down on the wooden bench. He reached up in a vain attempt to flatten his unruly locks as he glanced back up to watch the rest of the sorting.

As Neville passed a name in the 'S' category, the confused and suspicious look returned to his eyes before he called out the next name; this seemed to anger the boy whose own name had been neglected earlier on. "They skipped you too," cried the indignant voice, obviously outraged; "What are they playing at!" He was once again shushed, but this time the rebuke was only half-hearted as the girl, too, seemed to be troubled by Neville's negligence to call them up to the stool.

When Neville finally reached the 'W's, there were only six people left, including the two whose names apparently can't been called. Now that Albus could actually see them since they were no longer obscured by a large crowd of people, he noted that they both had black hair; the girl was thin and petite with big, clear blue eyes while her male friend was muscular and had slate-grey eyes. They both looked oddly familiar to him, the boy definitely more so than his friend. Albus wondered idly where he recognized them from as he watched his cousin step up the stool as the hat was placed upon her head. In moments, she was pronounced a Gryffindor—not a Ravenclaw as the black haired girl had predicted—and sauntered over to the table beside him.

As the last name was called and the parchment rolled up, the two black haired eleven-year-olds stood awkwardly in front of the head table, and the headmistress cast a sidelong glance at Neville. When he just stood there, staring at the only remaining unsorted first years, she asked him sternly, "Professor, why haven't you called these two children up to the stool yet?"

"Because these two people, as far as their listed names would suggest," he gestured to the scroll in his hands, "do not exist." There was a collective gasp from every person in the room at these words, and suddenly everyone broke into excited whispers, speaking to their friends about the strangeness of this occurrence. Albus was relieved that, now, every single person's attention was averted away from himself; he had a feeling that nobody would be paying him much heed for quite a while with this news, and that was just the way he liked it.

"What," began Headmistress McGonagall slowly, trying her best to keep the shock from her face, "are the listed names of these two students?"

"Well, I have to be honest, headmistress, at first I thought it was just a joke, but it would appear that, if that is the case, someone went to great lengths to make it authentic. It's a pretty cruel joke, not funny at all if you ask me."

McGonagall sighed. "_Please_, Professor; just give me the names."

"Alright," replied Neville, drawing in a deep breath before quickly blurting out his answer. "Sirius Black and Evangeline Lily Snape."

**A/N:** Reviews are quite welcome; actually, they make my life—and my stories—so much better. So please R&R. Oh, and to add to the disclaimer; I don't own Evangeline Lily, because that would be illegal not to mention unethical; I'm just borrowing her name because I like it and it fits my character.


	4. Chapter 3: Too Much Monkey Business

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own it, and I won't waste my time trying to obtain the rights to it. I'm pretty sure babysitting and lawn mowing don't pay quite well enough.

**Chapter 3: Too Much Monkey Business**

Evie and Sirius sat in two plain, rather uncomfortable wooden chairs in front of the large mahogany desk in the headmistress' office, having been brought there immediately following the sorting of their housemates for questioning concerning the validity of their very existence. The Ministry official asking the preliminary questions before the Aurors arrived for a more in-depth examination was convinced that they were planted in the school by the remaining Death Eaters to find a way to resurrect the Dark Lord Voldemort. Which was, of course, completely insane. The man was getting angrier and angrier by the second as the questioning got him nowhere. In fact, he'd only asked them one question so far, and it obviously hadn't yet been answered satisfactorily.

"What are your names?" he demanded angrily for what must have been the hundredth time, obviously starting to lose his patience.

"We already told you; we're Sirius Gideon Black and Evangeline Lily Snape," Evie replied with a quiet intensity, her eyes never leaving those of the questioner.

"Tell me the _truth_!" he roared, jumping out of his seat and slamming his fists down on the desk sitting between himself and the eleven-year-olds. "What are your _real_ names?"

"OH, our _real_ names! Well, why didn't you say so," she asked, the quiet mock-realization in her voice hiding an underlying layer of pure venom. Now Sirius knew that she was suddenly livid; she never raised her voice when she was mad, the volume of her words instead lowering to a dangerous near-whisper.

"This," she gestured to her best friend, "is the Dread Pirate Roberts and I'm Princess Peach; we were sent here by the villainous Lex Luthor to steal his true love Jane Eyre from the hero of our story, Ronald McDonald. In our plot to defeat you, we plan on blinding you by lighting our wands and then _levitating you to death_." With each word her voice got quieter until she ended in barely more than a whisper. As she finished her little speech, Sirius erupted into hysterical laughter while the questioner spluttered incoherently, his face having turned a brilliant magenta as his fists clenched with rage.

"That's IT!" roared the man, before pointing a quivering finger in their direction. "You two stay here! The Aurors will deal with you later!" he bellowed, turning on his heel and marching towards the door. Upon reaching it, he wrenched it open with so much force the children were surprised it wasn't torn off its hinges, before stalking out and slamming it behind him with a resounding bang that seemed to shake the very floor beneath the legs of their chairs.

When the sound of him muttering under his breath about "stupid kids" began to fade as he walked away, Sirius called out to him through the door, "But we haven't even eaten yet!" He was ignored by the furious man, whose incoherent ranting was no longer audible. Sirius harrumphed loudly before crossing his arms over his chest sourly, a look of mixed anger and misery on his handsome face. His stomach rumbled mightily, as though emphasizing his point.

Evie giggled at the noise, but her friend just scowled at her. This, however, only served to send her into quite a rare fit of laughter, guffawing with such force that she nearly toppled off of her seat. Sirius had to grin in return; she hardly ever allowed herself to laugh like that, and he considered himself privileged to be allowed to see her lose control of her mirth in such a way. It was as though she was freeing herself from the self-enforced walls that she carefully built up around her emotions, and she trusted him enough to allow him to see the real Evangeline Lily Snape.

"Perhaps," she gasped out between gales of laughter, "I should have told him—he he—that it was our plan to—ha ha—defeat him by—he he—rumbling him to death with your—ha ha—black hole of a stomach!" she managed before her giggles once again won out over her ability to speak coherently. Sirius, too, dissolved into chuckles; whether he was laughing at what she'd said, her difficultly at getting the words out, or just in an emotional response to her own laughter and the happiness that it instilled in him, he hadn't a clue.

A few minutes later, Headmistress McGonagall walked into her office, the sound of children's laughter filling her ears; she came across the two unsorted first years barely managing to stay in their chairs, so overcome by the hilarity of some unknown thing that they could hardly keep from falling in a heap on the floor. She felt her own lips twitch upward slightly at the sight, but quickly brought her expression under control as she stood staring at them, waiting for them to notice her presence and calm themselves.

When they finally did realize that they were not alone, the girl ceased her laughter abruptly and went unnaturally silent, her face closing off as the smile fled from her mouth and eyes. It took the boy a short while longer to compose himself, but he finally managed to get out the last few chuckles before becoming silent. McGonagall decided that now would be a good time to speak, and so she did. "You two are going to be here for a while, I'm afraid. I'll be in here keeping watch over you during this time, and I—unlike _certain others_—will not walk out when I get upset and leave the two of you in here to your own devices," she informed them, her strict tone and expression leaving no room for argument.

As the woman sat down in the chair across from the two students, she waved her wand at the desk between them, and a plate of sandwiches appeared before them along with two glasses of milk. Sirius pounced on the food as usual, grabbing a sandwich and stuffing it into his mouth, taking one of the most enormous bites Evie had ever seen. She rolled her eyes and picked up a sandwich for herself, taking a normal-sized bite before placing it on a plate that had been conjured for her.

Over time, there was nothing left on the platter but breadcrumbs, seeing as Sirius had eaten all of the sandwiches aside from the one that Evie had consumed. Once his stomach was full and no longer rumbling, Sirius stretched and yawned widely, sitting back and putting his feet up on the wood of the desk, leaning his chair back on its hind legs. At a pointed look from the woman on the other side of the desk, however, he sighed and put his feet back on the floor where they belonged, slumping and examining an old scar across his knuckles with a bored expression plastered on his face.

The minutes ticked by in strained silence as Evie and Sirius sat in their chairs across from McGonagall, who had begun to look over some paperwork at some point during the night. It was obvious that Sirius really wanted to talk to his best friend, but he knew that she wouldn't want to have a conversation with him in front of the headmistress, especially not under these circumstances. So he remained silent, albeit grudgingly, as he busied himself by counting the number of silver and gold objects that sat whirring on the desk in front of him and making up uses for each, trying to think up the most interesting possible functions for them to perform.

Eventually, as the night wore on and there was still no sign of the Aurors, nor any indication that they were coming at all. Evie's eyes were drooping with fatigue and Sirius yawned widely, not even remembering to cover his mouth through the sleepy fog that filled his brain due to the late hour. Suddenly, he heard a loud scraping noise, like stone grinding against wood, breaking the silence that had filled the room since McGonagall had entered. He didn't register what was happening until he felt something bump softly into his chair and a light weight press against his side.

Evie had clumsily scooted her chair right up beside his, too tired to lift it up off the ground, and she had rested her head on his shoulder, allowing herself to relax against him. He rested his own head atop hers and felt his eyelids fall under the tremendous weight he'd been feeling pressing down on them for a while now. The last thing he registered was the sound of Evie's gentle, even breathing as she fell asleep at his side before the welcome darkness of the dream world claimed him as well.

Two men and a woman climbed up the stairs to the headmistress's office, tired after a day's work at the Auror offices but knowing that their jobs for the day—or rather, night—were not yet complete. One of the men stopped his companions on the last step right before the door, sighing and turning to the other man. "You say that they're definitely Death Eater plants, Caddigan?" he asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Yes sir, definitely," replied the other man, nodding in affirmation.

"And what, exactly, makes you say that? Do you have any proof that would lead you to believe that they were anything more than two normal children who just want to get sorted and go to school like everyone else?" asked the man who was obviously the superior.

"Yes, of course I have proof. I recorded the whole conversation on my wand, and no normal schoolgirl would be that fresh to an Auror; they'd be too afraid."

"Well then, let's hear this recording before we go in. I want to know all the details before seeing them," requested the leader, and the other man immediately complied. The leader listened for a moment, his brow furrowing as he heard Caddigan asking the same question over and over again, getting angrier every time even though the children had already answered. He didn't seem to believe them. Then he heard the girl's snide comments, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Boy, if I didn't believe it before, now I know that girl really is a relation of Severus Snape! I can just imagine him saying that exact same thing, in an identical tone!"

The woman laughed as well. "Definitely. I can't see how you wouldn't give them the benefit of the doubt, Caddigan. We need to know more about their stories before we make any assumptions." The leader nodded at this, swiping a hand through his messy black hair and revealing an oddly-shaped scar marring the skin of his forehead. Harry turned and opened the door, smiling slightly at the sight that met his eyes; a little girl and a boy of the same size were sitting side-by-side on two uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs, and both appeared to be fast asleep.

He tiptoed around the desk to where McGonagall was working quietly by the light of a single candle sitting in front of her on the desk. As he turned to look at the two children from the front, he barely managed to stifle a loud gasp at the sight of them. It was as though he was staring into the face of the man he'd seen in the pictures of his parents' wedding, though about a decade younger. He had shaggy black hair and his face had the same aristocratic look to it, even though the harsh, regal lines were softened slightly in the innocence of sleep.

The girl was slightly harder to recognize; she had Severus Snape's straight black hair, although hers was soft and shiny rather than greasy and stringy, and she had his thin, pale face even though hers was not nearly as sallow and sickly. She was also far more attractive than the man she claimed was her grandfather; her nose was cute like a button and her mouth was fuller. She too looked innocent in sleep, and he was loath to wake the two of them from their peaceful slumbers. But there were things that he had to ask them, and he couldn't very well speak to them in their current state of consciousness.

Senior Auror Harry Potter felt the presence of his wife and Caddigan as they tiptoed up behind him. He turned to his former Transfiguration professor and whispered regretfully, "I'm going to have to wake them, Minerva." The woman nodded in understanding.

"It's too bad," muttered Ginny Potter, "I mean, look at the poor dears, Harry! They're probably knackered from those long hours of questioning, and scared to death with the way Caddigan was yelling at them the whole time!" Harry shot his wife a look of agreement, but his glance also conveyed that it would be necessary to wake them, despite his wish to allow them a decent night's sleep. She nodded tiredly in acknowledgment of his unvoiced reminder. "Well, at least let me wake them gently." At her husband's nod of agreement, she crept forward and knelt before the two eleven year olds, reaching out and shaking them each gently with a hand. "Wake up, kids," she whispered, "We have some questions to ask you."

Sirius slowly blinked his eyes open, reaching up to rub the sleep from them as he sat up and stretched his arms up over his head, yawning widely. He flashed her a charming albeit sleepy smile as the girl who'd previously been leaning against his side stirred and sat up slowly. She too yawned and stretched, blinking tiredly and peering up at Ginny expressionlessly. Her resemblance to one Severus Snape was evident, however different she looked from the old Potions Master, and the boy's likeness to Sirius Black was uncanny.

"So… are you awake enough to answer a few questions for us?" the redhead asked kindly. The two kids nodded their heads and she continued, "So, let's start with the easy stuff. What are your names?"

The boy answered her. "I'm Sirius Gideon Black and this is my best friend Evangeline Lily Snape." Ginny almost laughed aloud at this; a Black and a Snape, best friends. If only their grandfathers could see them now, she thought wryly; Severus and Sirius the first were sworn enemies in their own time, and their grandchildren had come to be great friends. It was ironic, really, and it only went to show that anyone can make friends with someone else if they try. There was no doubt in Ginny's mind now, if there had ever really been one, that these two kids were anything else than who they said they were.

"And how can you be the grandchildren of two people who had no known offspring to their names?" she questioned.

"Well, you see," began the boy, "my grandfather had been dating my gran for a while when the Potters went into hiding, but nobody aside from James Potter knew it. When my grandfather found out that his best friend had been betrayed, he went off to corner Peter Pettigrew and left my gran at home, not realizing that she had been trying to tell him something important; she was pregnant. Then he never came back, and the next day my gran found out that he'd been sent to Azkaban prison due to his allegedly being a Death Eater, so she decided that she would have to go into hiding in order to protect my father from persecution," he recited, remembering his gran telling him the story before she'd died when he was five.

"Who was your gran?" Ginny asked, wanting to get all of the details.

"Her name was Marlene McKinnon, and she was a pureblood; her whole family was killed, and everyone assumed that she'd died along with them, not knowing that she'd really run away with Sirius Black, whom she had been forbidden by her parents to see. She homeschooled my father, and he met my own mother, Lindsay Selwyn—also a pureblood—when he snuck out of the house once. They kept seeing each other secretly, and were eventually married. But when I was born, but she didn't make it through… and ever since then my father has been severely and incurably depressed. He drinks a lot now, and he doesn't really pay me much attention at all." he finished sadly, his voice slightly bitter as he spat out the last sentence.

Ginny was dumbfounded. "So Marlene McKinnon… didn't die?" she asked quietly. Sirius looked up at her sadly.

"She did die. Just not when everyone thought she did," he replied quietly.

Ginny nodded slowly before turning to Evie. "So, sweetie, what's your story?" she asked softly.

The girl just looked up at her for a moment, and Ginny was afraid that she wouldn't answer at all, but she finally spoke in a soft voice that was barely above a whisper, "My grandfather was in love with a woman—my gran never really knew who she was—but he was really upset when this woman died, and so he… sought comfort," she said, sounding slightly awkward here, as though secretly embarrassed, "in my gran."

Evie took a deep breath before continuing. "And then she got pregnant, and she asked my granddad what he would name a child, and he told her he would name it Lily. But she was having a boy, so she called him Broderick and gave him the last name of my grandfather, who I think she really did love. And then, after he was born, she went off to live in the Muggle world so that Severus would never find out about his son. It wasn't hard for her, because she was Muggle-born herself, and she homeschooled my father when he became Hogwarts age. Eventually, he met my mother, who was also Muggle-born, and they had me; my mom wanted to call me Evangeline, but my dad decided on my middle name to honor my granddad.

"And then just this year, my parents decided that they should return to the wizarding world by sending me here, to Hogwarts, once I got my letter." Suddenly the girl's eyes swiveled to McGonagall. "Why," she began quietly, a question in her voice, "did the Deputy Headmaster not know that we were coming if we were on the list, and he sent letters to us?"

"Ah, that's a good question. You see, the Deputy Head doesn't actually write out each letter; there is an enchanted quill to do that, and all the Deputy has to do is sign each letter before it is sent off." Evie nodded sagely, obviously satisfied with this answer.

Suddenly, Harry stepped forward, his wand glowing green. "I didn't detect any lies with the truth insurance spell," he announced, gesturing to the wand in front of him. "It's been green since they started talking." Ginny nodded in approval before standing abruptly and turning to McGonagall.

"It looks like they're the real deal, Minerva." She turned back to the children. "Thank you for your time. And good luck." With that, she walked to the door and opened it, stepping out onto the stairs beyond, her husband and Caddigan following suit. As the door closed behind the Aurors, Minerva turned to the two students sitting in front of her desk.

"Well. It looks like the two of you are overdue to be sorted."

**A/N:** So, does this chapter explain a lot of your questions? What questions do you still have? Can their explanations be improved at all? Tell me in a review!


	5. Chapter 4: Teddy Boy

**Disclaimer:** It still isn't mine; sorry, folks. Oh, and I don't own the Beatles whose song titles are being used as my story and chapter titles.

**A/N:** I know that McGonagall is supposed to have retired, but I always imagined her at the school until the day she died; after all, everyone knows that she loves teaching the kids, even if she doesn't show it. And as for Ginny's being and Auror; well, JK never specifically states that she isn't, and besides, I could never imagine Ginny sitting at home watching kids and writing for a newspaper when Harry is out risking his life to ensure the safety of the wizarding world. I don't think Molly would mind watching her grandkids while Ginny's at work, either. ;D

**Chapter 4: Teddy Boy**

The old, worn brown fabric of the Hogwarts sorting hat slipped down over a head of black hair, blocking the eyes of the child sitting on the three-legged stool and enshrouding their vision in darkness. _Well now… this is interesting… a thirst to prove yourself, I see, and you are not lacking in ambition as it seems. Yet you have strong morals, and you do not believe that the end always justifies the means, so not Slytherin for you… Well, there is only one other option, seeing as you like to stand up for those who are less powerful, whereas a Slytherin would use weakness to their advantage. You are brave and courageous and chivalrous. You belong in—_

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted, and Sirius stepped down from the stool with a grin on his face to see Evie give him a tiny smile and a discrete thumbs-up. He enthusiastically returned the gesture with two of his own, still smiling broadly as he watched her turn and slowly make her way up to the stool that he'd just vacated.

Evie sat on the wooden stool, her calm demeanor, her straight back and the confident set of her shoulders belying the inner anxiety that she so carefully hid behind her mask of self-assurance. As the pointed wizard's hat slid down over her eyes, plunging her into darkness, she had to fight the urge to start fidgeting in her nervousness. But she kept her face impassive as the hat began to speak, whispering in her ear with a voice meant only for her.

_You are clever and cunning, as well as intelligent, with a definite thirst for knowledge, I see… but neither Ravenclaw nor Slytherin would be the right fit for you. You have strong belief in your ethical values, and you are not afraid to speak your mind. You have the ability to overcome your fears and to face them, which is very honorable indeed, and you derive happiness from helping others, especially those not as strong as yourself. You'll fit right in with—_

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat roared yet again, and Evie decided she deserved to indulge in a true, broad smile. It spread across her face like the sun slowly rising, filling her clear blue eyes with a sparkling happiness the way twilight lights up the sky with beautiful color. Sirius' grin widened in return as she practically ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace vigorously, lifting her up off the ground and spinning her around. She laughed aloud and called out to him, "Roo, we made it! We're both in Gryffindor!" All he could do was nod zealously.

Headmistress McGonagall waited as their enthusiasm simmered down to a level at which they once again became aware of the world around them, their minds no longer focused solely on their excitement. When they were finished celebrating, she cleared her throat, drawing their attention once again to her. "Now," she began briskly, "I will lead you two to your dormitories, where you will be expected to sleep for the rest of the night before attending classes in the morning. You will receive your schedules at breakfast. If you feel too tired to be present at your courses, simply stop by the Hospital Wing to pick up a Pepper-up potion to wake you up. Come along."

Neither Evie nor Sirius realized exactly how exhausted they were until they began the long walk through the halls of the old castle toward the Gryffindor common room. Sirius noted idly that his feet felt heavy, as though his shoes were made of lead as they dragged across the stone floor, weighed down by fatigue. Evie felt as though she were walking in a dream, not registering the world around her with as acute an awareness as usual with the exhaustion fogging her brain. Indeed, she was caught somewhere between being asleep and awake, trapped in a world where dream and reality could barely be distinguished between.

When they reached the portrait of the fat lady and the headmistress spoke to the woman in the painting, both children were convinced that they would remember neither the way to the common room or the password to get in. After climbing through the portrait hole and trudging up to the respective dormitories that McGonagall pointed out to them, neither one had enough energy to prepare for bed. They simply fell onto their four-posters, fully-clothed, and promptly slipped into a deep sleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

Albus Potter was rudely awoken by the loud, blaring beep of an alarm clock and he had half a mind to chuck the cursed object across the room and go back to sleep; he resisted the urge to do so, however, opting instead to grudgingly roll out of bed and proceed to dress himself, jamming his glasses onto his nose once his robes had been donned over Muggle cargo pants and a simple cotton t-shirt. Muggle clothes were the new fad in the wizarding world; in fact, many aspects of the Muggle culture itself had been adopted by wizards since the Battle of Hogwarts. After the reformation of the Ministry and the Toleration Acts passed by his Aunt Hermione, the wizarding world had warmed considerably to Muggles and their culture.

This wasn't the only thing that the Toleration Acts had changed; they extended the same levels of toleration and acceptance to half-breeds, like werewolves and centaurs, as well as certain magical creatures including—but not limited to—house elves, goblins and merpeople. His own father, Senior Auror and Department Head, and his Uncle Kingsley, the Minister of Magic, had helped to turn the Ministry around and make it an overall better place at which to work. His aforementioned aunt now worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement after she felt that her job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, which had since been renamed the Department for Protection of Rights and Liberties of Magical Beings.

As Albus made his way into the bathroom to wash up before heading down to breakfast, he wondered idly who their new DADA professor would be. Their last one had been teaching since the Battle of Hogwarts ended, but he'd been old from the start and, after nineteen years of teaching, had decided to retire. James claimed that this was a good thing; he said the old teacher was a "boring old codger" anyway. Albus smirked slightly at his brother's choice of wording.

He was brushing his teeth as the door swung open and another boy strode in. Albus immediately recognized him as the boy whose name had been skipped during the sorting the night before; Sirius Black, he said his name was. Albus had heard many stories about his father's godfather, and he could easily see how this boy could be a relation of his, despite the fact that he didn't even know him. From the banter he had heard between this boy and his friend, Evie Snape, he seemed to be cocky and confident, as well as a bit of a ladies' man.

Evie, the girl who claimed to be the granddaughter of Albus' namesake, Severus Snape, also seemed to be remarkably similar to the Potions Master that his father had described in all of his tales. She was sardonic but quiet and rather reserved, not seeming to show very much emotion aside from exasperation. However, she didn't seem threatening, unfriendly or antisocial, and her irritation seemed to be good-natured playacting rather than actual malice or contempt.

As the handsome black haired boy saw him standing by the sinks, he said, "Hey, mate. I'm Sirius Black." He grinned and extended a hand, Albus taking it in his own; the one with which he wasn't holding his toothbrush. Quickly spitting the toothpaste suds from his mouth and licking the corners of his lips to wipe the froth from them, he replied, "I'm Albus Potter."

"So, Albus, what classes are you taking," asked the boy, sounding genuinely interested.

Albus looked at him funny for a moment before saying, "Er, well, all the first years take the same classes; they're all mandatory, and we're not allowed any electives until third year."

"Oh, right. That's why they didn't ask me what courses I wanted to take," he mused to himself, nodding as though agreeing with his own proclamation that it now made perfect sense. "Well then, what class are you most looking forward to. Personally, I think Defense Against the Dark Arts will be wicked; it sounds so… I dunno… _cool_," he said, what Albus was beginning to recognize as his signature roguish grin plastered across his face.

"Yeah, I think that'll be my favorite, too. But I like Potions as well; Dad says I get that from my gran," he added.

"Oh, that's Evie's favorite; and she's good at, too, mind you. Kid's a Potions genius, I tell you; been brewing since she was real little, it was one of the only fun things for her to do, what with her not being allowed out very often and all. She can concoct some pretty hard stuff; the nutter considers OWL level potions easy. Well, maybe not easy, but she can make them without botching them up," he explained. "I, on the other hand, am absolute rubbish; blew up her potions shed once, actually, and she never let me touch her stuff again." He laughed at this, obviously amused by his own incompetence in this particular area. "I feel like DADA is much more fun and interesting, so I reckon I'll be better in that class."

"Speaking of DADA, we still don't know who the new teacher is; they weren't at dinner last night, and McGonagall didn't announce who it was, which is kind of odd I suppose."

The other boy shrugged, not knowing what else to do, seeing as he had no clue who the new Defense Professor would be, either.

As they walked out of their dormitory and down the stairs into the common room, Albus racked his brains in an effort to remember if there had been any hints as to who the new DADA teacher would be, but he came up with nothing. He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts with a start as the boy beside him yelled out, "Evie!" and ran across the room, tackling a thin black haired girl to the floor. After trying unsuccessful for a moment to glare at him in reproach, her lips twitched upward in a slight smile.

"I swear," she grumbled to herself in half-hearted grumpiness, "You're _trying_ to kill me."

Sirius just grinned and hugged her tighter before letting go and pushing himself to his feet before extending a hand down to her. She took it and allowed him to pull her up, and upon standing she brushed herself off and looked up at her best friend. "You know," she began, a hint of a reprimand entering her voice, "I've been waiting out here since five thirty, and you decide you don't want to get your lazy arse out of bed until ten to seven! Now we barely have an hour to eat breakfast once we find our way back to the Great Hall."

"Well, if you weren't such an early bird, you wouldn't have to worry about my getting up so late. How can you get ready between five and five thirty when you have to shower and everything? Crazy woman, how can you rush a nice, relaxing thing like a shower? And how do you wake up so early anyway, I mean…" he paused for a moment in his rant, his brow furrowing slightly, before his eyes widened and he stared at her in horror.

"Hold on… did you say less than an hour for breakfast?" he cried, alarmed. He hurriedly hooked his arm through hers and dragged her out the portrait hole, shouting, "Come _on_, Evie! It's breakfast we're talking about, the most important meal of the day!" The last thing Albus saw was Evie rolling her eyes at Sirius' melodramatics before the portrait closed behind them. Then he was left standing alone in the common room, smirking to himself at their antics before following them out of the portrait hole and toward the Great Hall.

He entered the room full of students eating their breakfast before the day of classes started, arriving just in time to see Sirius as he spotted the Gryffindor table. The shaggy haired boy's face lit up as he saw the laden tabletop, and he bellowed at the top of his voice, "FOOD!" before dragging Evie over to the table as she rolled her eyes and descending upon the food like a vulture.

Several people looked up from their plates at this loud outburst, and most of them seemed surprised that Evie, who seemed rather quiet and shy, hadn't blushed and hidden her face. But Albus knew her well enough already to understand that she wasn't shy at all; she simply didn't talk very much. It seemed that you had to earn her trust before she really opened up to you. By the time Albus reached the table, Sirius had already finished his first round and was helping himself to seconds, piling plentiful heaps of food upon his face before shoving it all into his mouth at breakneck speed.

Albus looked up from his apparently ravenous classmate, and a shock of bright color up at the staff table caught his eye. He almost passed by the turquoise blur, but registered it at the last second and swiveled his head back around, gasping at the sight that met his eyes. There, at the head table, talking animatedly with one Professor Longbottom, was none other than one of the Potter family's closest friends—in fact, he was actually considered a relative—Teddy Remus Lupin.

**A/N:** Oooh, another plot twist! And kind of a cliff hanger, too. A review would be wonderful, by the way ;D


	6. Chapter 5: How Do You Do It?

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Harry Potter, I wouldn't need to put a disclaimer on this story. And if I owned the Beatles,

**Chapter 5: How Do You Do It?**

As Albus sat down, head still reeling with the knowledge that Teddy Lupin, a boy—no, a _man_—that he'd known on such a personal, familial level for his entire life, would be teaching him in such an impersonal, formal environment. It was even worse than having Neville as a professor, since he and Teddy knew each other so well. How would he ever get used to calling someone who was like a brother to him "Professor Lupin" for his entire time as a student at Hogwarts?

It would sure take some getting used to… then again, it would be nice to have a familiar, loving face around, and perhaps it would help somewhat with the homesickness. Also, he knew that Teddy had been wanting this job for all of his life, so he could be just like the father he'd never known but had heard so much about. He was happy for the metamorphmagus, and he smiled at him when their eyes met for a moment. Teddy smiled back and winked, and Albus felt the anxiety that had been filling his stomach settle; outside of class, he was still the same old goofy Teddy that he'd always known.

His musings were interrupted when a screech filled the hall as a single lone owl flew in, a bright red envelope clutched in its talons. The magnificent bird landed in front of Scorpius Malfoy, who had paled upon recognizing what must have been the family owl as it alighted on the table before him. It dropped the letter on the blond boy's plate before flying away swiftly, knowing what was soon to come and wanting to get as far away as possible.

The boy picked up the letter delicately with fingers that shook slightly in fear, as though afraid that it would suddenly grow enormous, gaping jaws and bite his head off. Sadly, this was not far from the truth. He hesitated only slightly before sighing, a look of determination hardening his eyes as he slowly slid a finger under the flap and broke the ornate wax seal on which the Malfoy family crest was imprinted, steeling himself for the inevitable. As the letter was opened, it seemed to widen of its own accord before a booming, terror-inducing voice was projected by the letter, filling the entire Great Hall with its shrieks.

"SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY, I AM ASHAMED TO CALL YOU MY SON! YOU HAVE DISGRACED THE FAMILY NAME BY BEING SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR, THE SWORN ENEMY OF THE SLYTHERIN HOUSE TO WHICH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR ANCESTORS HAS BELONGED SINCE THE SCHOOL WAS BUILT! YOUR MOTHER IS ALSO DISAPPOINTED IN YOU, AND WE ARE HUMILIATED TO HAVE DISCOVERED THAT A CHILD OF OURS HAS BEEN THE ONE TO DISGRACE THE HOUSE OF MALFOY! WE EXPECTED SO MUCH MORE FROM YOU,A ND I ASSURE YOU THAT YOUR DISHONOR WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED! YOU HAD BETTER NOT BE ASSOCIATING YOURSELF WITH THOSE WHO WASTE THEIR TIME EXECUTING SILLY PREANKS AND WHATNOT, AND YOU ARE STILL EXPECTED TO ALLY YOURSELF WITH THSLYTHERINS WHO WILL HOPEFULLY CLEANSE YOU OF ANY UNDESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS THAT WOULD MORTIFY ANY SELF-RESPECTING PUREBLOOD WIZARD! IF I HEAR THAT YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWING THESE ORDERS, THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE _DIRE_, I CAN ASSURE YOU OF THAT!"

Once the letter had finished, it promptly tore itself to shreds and burst into flame, leaving behind only a pile of ashes and a very pale, rather terrified Scorpius Malfoy. Albus winced in sympathy toward the blond, knowing that Draco Malfoy meant every word of his threats.

For a moment the Hall was completely silent, its occupants barely daring to breath as the tension in the room escalated. Suddenly, a voice from the other side of the Gryffindor table spoke up, breaking the silence that had descended upon the room. "Don't worry about it, mate," Sirius Black called out. "At least your dad cares what house you got sorted into. My dad wouldn't give a rat's ass if I wasn't sorted at all, and was instead proclaimed Headmaster of the school immediately upon arriving. But don't worry about me; with my amazing brainpower, dashing good looks, and over all charming disposition, I'll have a huge gathering of fans, and then my dad's opinion won't matter at all!" he joked. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll let you join my fan club," he added in a mock earnest tone, grinning roguishly.

At this, Malfoy let out a weak, uncertain chuckle which gave way to uproarious laughter throughout the Great Hall. It hadn't even really been all that funny of a remark, but the students needed a way to expel the tension that had built up in the room's atmosphere, and their laughter allowed them to melt the strain that hung in the air around them. Albus was just glad that Scorpius himself hadn't been the target of their laughter, and Sirius' comment had been instead. He felt like this saved the Malfoy from being subjected to even more humiliation.

At this point in time, the House Heads were coming around the tables handing out schedules, and Albus accepted him with a word of thanks before looking it over. He had Potions with Slughorn first, then double History of Magic, which would be torture with the ghost Professor Binns as a teacher, followed by Transfiguration at the end of the day with Professor Garrow. Potions was with the Slytherins—he repressed the urge to groan at this—History of Magic was with Hufflepuff and they shared Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws.

As he looked over the timetable in his hand, he didn't notice the person who plopped down on the bench beside him until they spoke to him. "So, that's what Teddy's surprise was. Never woulda guessed that one, huh little cuz? Victoire's going to be stoked, though, seeing as they got together over the summer," noted Roxanne. Albus wondered idly if James was the only one out of the family who hadn't known about Ted and Vic's relationship.

"Won't he get in trouble for seeing her though?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

Roxanne just snorted derisively, as though scoffing at her cousin's baby ignorance. "That's why they'll only snog in _secret_, Albus," she replied patiently in a patronizing tone, as though talking to a three year old. He just nodded in understanding, deciding to ignore her coddling. The thirteen year old glanced at the watch on her wrist before saying, "Well, class is about to start, so I'm leaving." She lifted her bag onto her shoulder before ruffling his hair and exiting the room. Glaring at her retreated back, he tried unsuccessfully to flatten his messy black hair, combing his fingers through it which only served to make it stand even farther on end.

Albus stood as well, grabbing his own book bag and slinging it over his head to settle on the curve of his shoulder before making his way out the door and into the Entrance Hall. He had to ask a Hufflepuff prefect for directions to the Potions classroom, and he followed her instructions as they led him down into the dank, cold dungeons beneath the castle. Soon after he arrived and took a seat in the middle of the classroom which contained only a smattering of scattered students, Sirius and Evie ambled in and sat themselves at a table in the back of the room.

After the classroom had filled substantially and the last stragglers were arriving, in walked Scorpius Malfoy, his shoulders hunched in a defensive posture. He glanced around the room, his eyes showing the inner turmoil he felt as he realized that he had to chose a place to sit, and he had to make a decision between his own house and the house his father had so desperately wanted him to be sorted into. Albus watched him in sympathy but said nothing to help him in his predicament. Suddenly, from the back of the room, a voice called out, "Oi, Malfoy! There's an empty seat at our table."

The boy's blond head spun around and he spotted the owner of the voice that had summoned him. His eyes met Sirius Black's grey ones which held within them a friendly reassurance, and his decision was made; he walked over to the back table and took a seat beside Black, nodding gratefully at the boy who grinned back in reply. With that, the bell rang signaling the start of class and Slughorn walked in through his office door behind the teacher's desk, beaming out at the first year students gathered before him.

"Good morning class," he called out jovially, the smile never slipping from his face as he greeted them brightly. "We have a very interesting lesson planned for today; we will be making the Talent Tuner potion, which will seek out any strengths that you have and enhance them. The effects only last for an hour, however; there are more complex potions that will have the same effects that would be more permanent, but we'll start out with something easy so that I can see what level you're at. Since this is the case, you will not be working with partners today."

He flicked his wand and a list of instructions that seemed fairly easy to follow appeared on the blackboard. "This should take most of the lesson to brew, but if you do finish early I ask you to begin reading the first chapter in your textbooks, which will give you a head start on your homework; a foot long essay on the first chapter. You may begin." And with htat, the first years got to work.

Each child set a fire alight under their cauldrons and lined up at the supply cabinets to gather their ingredients. Once they were all once again seated in their chairs with all of the supplies that they would need, the students began to busy themselves with concocting the potion according to the directions on the board. That is, all of the students aside from Evie, who was not following the steps exactly; instead, she exchanged some ingredients for others here and there, and stirred a few times more than instructed when necessary. She was focused wholly on the task at hand, cutting and adding her ingredients with careful precision.

Even when everyone else had finished their brews and were waiting for Slughorn to come around and inspect their potions, Evie was still working diligently, her eyes never leaving the cauldron before her as she monitored her progress. She worked with an intensity that was almost startling, and her unwavering concentration was evident from the furrowing of her brow and the strength of her gaze.

Her hair was tucked behind her ears to keep it from falling in front of her eyes and breaking their fixation upon the contents of her cauldron. Her apparent passion for potion making reminded Albus of an artist at their canvas, taking careful strokes of their brush and using colors and shapes to create something wonderful from what had once simply been puddles of liquid on their pallet and a rectangular expanse of empty space.

When there were only around seven minutes left of class, she finally sat back and regarded her concoction with satisfaction, her lips tugging upward in a slight smile that seemed to be a trademark of sorts; it seemed to express her unique personality in exactly the way that Sirius' roguish grin expressed his. When Slughorn realized that everyone was finished, he began to make his rounds, peering into every cauldron to see how well each student had done. When he came upon Rose, who had unsurprisingly seated herself at the very front of the classroom, he looked into her cauldron and beamed before bringing his eyes up to her face, his smile widening as he made a noise of approval. Albus' cousin beamed at the unvoiced compliment.

When he reached Albus, he glanced at his potion which was very nearly perfect, saying cheerfully, "Not bad, Mr. Potter. Not bad at all." Several other people also got compliments, but he seemed to think that Rosie's was the best of what he'd seen so far. Finally, he reached the very back, regarding Scorpius' fairly good potion as well as Sirius' own mediocre concoction with nods of his head. Finally, he reached Evie's cauldron.

Obviously, he was halfway expectant to see that a descendant of Severus Snape, one of his greatest Potions students, would have created a masterpiece of a potion, but the fact that she'd taken so long seemed to make him slightly less confident in the fact that she'd done well. He, of course, had not noticed the intense concentration she'd put into the mixture as Albus had, and so didn't know that she'd gone slower to avoid making mistakes rather than because she didn't know what she was doing.

He looked down into her cauldron and promptly froze, his mouth hanging agape and his eyes bugging out, and for a moment it almost seemed as though they would pop right out of their sockets. Finally, he seemed to regain mobility as he promptly shut his mouth, but the shocked expression didn't leave his face even as he composed himself as well as he could manage. "This… this potion is… it's," he began to stutter, obviously not finding any sufficient words with which to describe the amazing potion that she had created. "It's like nothing I've ever seen from any first year I've ever taught," he finished in awe.

She looked up and stared him straight in the eyes before saying in her quiet voice, "Thank you sir." And then she looked down into the cauldron, frowning slightly as though unsatisfied, saying softly, "But a Canderbury horn, some elder berries and crushed scarab wings would have made the effects last for a month rather than an hour, so it could be much better. Only, you haven't any Canderbury horns and your crushed scarab wings aren't the right color, and they've been ground into too fine a powder."

Slughorn laughed at this, and Evie's lips pursed into a thin line, her eyes darkening slightly; obviously, she took her potion making very seriously and thought that it was no laughing matter. "My dear girl, you really do know your potion making." And with that, the bell rang, causing the students to scurry in cleaning and packing up before exiting the classroom to head to their next lesson, Albus among them. Even as he walked out the door, he could still hear Slughorn's dying laughter brought on only partly by amusement and mostly by delight at Evie's talent. Albus knew that this was going to be an interesting year.

**A/N: **So what did you think? Leave a review and tell me!


	7. Chapter 6: Mean Mr Mustard

**Disclaimer: **I only won Harry Potter in my dreams. And when JK and Warner Bros beat me to death with a stick to get them back, they turn into nightmares.

**Chapter 6: Mean Mr. Mustard**

Sirius was completely unsurprised at Evie's potion, which was the image of perfection as always. After he'd finished his own concoction he'd sat watching her, smiling at how familiar he was with that expression of intensity on her face; in fact, she'd been wearing the same look of intent concentration on the day he had first met her, when she had been building her sand castle, and as he watched her he was reminded of those days at the park from their early childhood upon which he looked back fondly.

He supposed that expression was the embodiment of all the words he would use to describe her; she was quietly confident and she focused wholeheartedly on the task at hand, refusing to back down before it was complete. She put her whole self into everything that she did, and he admired her dedication and determination. And as she'd taken a vial from her pocket, filled it with the liquid in her cauldron and stoppered it up with a bit of cork before gently dropping the glass container into her robe pocket, an expression of satisfaction at a job well done crossed her face.

On the way to History of Magic, they walked together; she was walking forwards straight toward him, and he was walking backwards in front of her so that he could face her as they spoke to each other. He thought she looked rather funny in robes; they were a bit too big for her slight frame, and so they billowed out behind her, seeming almost like the wings of a bat—or, more appropriately, batman's cape. He smiled to himself at his mental comparison, and she narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why are you smiling," she asked, a hint of crossness entering her soft voice. "Are you even listening to me, Roo?"

Sirius shook his head to refocus himself before saying, slightly confusedly, "What? Er, sorry, no." He smiled sheepishly, causing her to roll her eyes grandly and push past him. He turned around and hurried to catch up with her, this time walking at her side and facing forward. He fell into step beside her, his strides matching her own as they made their way to their next class. "So, what was it you were saying?"

She harrumphed, not looking at him, as she replied in a mumble, "I have half a mind not to tell you now." Then her voice rose slightly so that he could hear her clearly as she replied, "I was asking you, before I realized that you were off somewhere else—probably pink elephant land, dancing with a honey jar on your head" she added under her breath, to which she received a scowl, "I was asking you what skill you thought the Talent Tuner potion would enhance in you?"

"Well, at first I was thinking it would better my Quiddich skills," he began thoughtfully before his pensive look transformed into his patented roguish grin. "But then I remembered my remarkable ability to make girl swoon at the sight of me, and I decided that it would enhance that talent. So, rather than making them all glassy-eyed and giggly, it would make them drop dead upon seeing my gorgeous face, convinced I was an angel from heaven and wanting to meet me there immediately," he finished.

Evie rolled her eyes and smacked him none too gently upside the head. He cried out and rubbed the tender spot on his skull, complaining about how her slap had ruined his perfect head of hair, and she just rolled her eyes. "You are insufferably arrogant, did you know that?"

He grinned in return. "But you love me anyway," he said cheekily, earning a warning look that he knew held an underlying hint of amusement. He shut up, however, not really fancying another blow to the head.

"Well, personally, I'm surprised that big fat head of yours can be held up by such a little wimpy weakling." He voice became high-pitched and falsely whiney as she continued in imitation, 'Ow, Evie, that was my head, that hurt, you messed up my hair and now I'm going to die, ohhhh my image of manly perfection is ruined because you murdered that as well as me,'" she mocked, snickering. He sent her a filthy glare and poked his tongue out at her, harrumphing and crossing his arms over his chest. She laughed further at this, and he couldn't help but crack a slight smile in response.

Finally, they reached the History of Magic classroom and walked in, taking seats at the back of the room as usual. This time, all Scorpius Malfoy needed was a friendly smile as confirmation of Sirius' acceptance, and he walked over and took a seat at the desk to Sirius' left. From the shaggy-haired boy's right, Evie spared him a small smile, and he returned it tentatively. Albus Potter, the boy Sirius had met that morning in the boy's dorms, sat a little ways in front of them with the bushy-haired girl he remembered having predicted would be in Ravenclaw. She'd looked rather upset in the class before to know that she was not the best potion maker in her year, and seemed like the kind of girl to whom school meant everything.

History of Magic proved to be the most boring class Sirius ever could have imagined, and having a droning ghost as a teacher really didn't help at all. After about five minutes he'd already given up on paying any attention at all, and instead turned and poked Evie, who was one of the only two people actually taking notes, the other being Albus' bushy-haired friend. She glanced over at him expectantly, a question in her eyes, and he placed a scrap of paper on her desk. She read the words he'd written—_Let's play a game; try to guess what talent would be enhanced in each person in the room.—_before scribbling her reply and handing it back.

He read over her neat, spidery script and grinned. _Binns would have his monotony improved so that he could literally bore people to death, rather than just to tears,_ was her reply, and he scribbled back. They went on like this for the remainder of the lesson, Evie's notes lying forgotten on her desk as she observed all of the people in the room to see what she could discover about them, sometimes agreeing with Sirius' assumptions and sometimes not. She liked to watch people and try to infer things about them from their little everyday actions and expressions.

Luckily, the double class split for lunch, and all of the children rushed from the room, wanting to get out of that prison as quickly as possible. In the mad dash to the door, Sirius and Evie were separated by the rushing crowd, being pushed along by many frantic students.

They finally found each other again before making their way to the Great Hall for lunch. When they got there, they headed for the table and took two available seats by Albus Potter before beckoning Scorpius, who'd just entered the hall, over to join them. "Hey, Albus," said Sirius in greeting, and Albus returned the pleasantry before turning to his food. Sirius leaned back on the bench and peered around Albus to look at the bushy-haired girl. "What's your name?" he asked her, flashing a smile.

She blushed slightly, causing Evie to roll her eyes, before replying, "I'm Rose Weasley. You're Sirius Black, right?" she asked.

Sirius spun around to face Evie. "See," he said matter-of-factly, gesturing in her general direction with the drumstick he was holding, before lifting it to his mouth and tearing off a huge chunk of the meat with his teeth. Before swallowing, he continued, "I tolb ooh dat I woulb be famous! Evewyboby alweaby knows my name!" he cried triumphantly, grinning through his large mouthful of food. He bit off another chunk of chicken definitively, as though emphasizing his point and wordlessly stating with finality that the conversation was over.

Evie regarded Sirius with revulsion; obviously, she didn't think that his attempt to end the conversation at that was valid, because she replied in her quiet voice, "And you'll be famous for the ability to spit the most chewed up bits of food into people's faces as is humanly possible if you don't quit talking with your mouth full," she informed him, disapproval evident in her tone.

He made a noise of protest but Evie ignored it, returning to her own food. After his attempt at getting a reaction from her failed, he turned instead to Rose and plastered a cheerful smile across his face. "Well, hello, Rose; it's nice to meet you," he said around Albus' back, winking at the girl and causing her to blush slightly again. Suddenly, he felt a hand grab him by the back of his collar and yank him back upright. He turned to glare at his best friend who only raised an eyebrow at him in return.

"Whoa there, Romeo," she said, smirking at him as he glowered back. "Well, you seem to be having a love affair with your food at the moment; don't want it getting jealous now, do we? Then it might decide never again to grace you with its presence and you'd be hungry for all of eternity," she said, her eyes dancing with merriment at his expense. But he didn't notice her mocking tone of voice or the laughter in her eyes; he only gasped at the thought of starving, and he leapt on the last remaining drumstick on his plate, picking it up and kissing it.

"Oh, you're my one true love," he cried dramatically. "Please don't leave me!" Several people glanced over at him, grinning at his antics and turning to whisper with one another, chuckling. Soon, however, it was time to return to class, and the first year Gryffindors dragged themselves out of their seats and out of the hall, dreading having to spend more time with Professor Binns. After that rather pointlessly eventful lunch and an even more pointless but far less eventful second History of Magic block, the students finally rose at the sound of the bell and filed out.

They headed off to Transfiguration next and took seats next to Albus and Rose toward the middle of the classroom, Scorpius joining them. When the bell rang once again, in walked Professor Garrow. He swept swiftly up to the front of the room and Sirius noted the hard and unforgiving coldness in his pale blue eyes as he spun around to face the class. "I do not tolerate any tomfoolery in my class, and any misbehavior will result in immediate dismissal to the Headmistress' office, with no exceptions and no negotiations. Is that understood?" The entire class nodded in unison, immediately realizing that this man was not one to cross.

"Today, we will be reading the first four chapters in our book and, over the next month of classes, this is the material we will be working on. Today we will get our reading out of the way so that we can focus on the practical aspect of transfiguration for the remainder of the month. I do not tolerate complaints or talking of any sort during this reading time. Take out your books and begin." The students obeyed immediately, scrambling to take their books out of their bags.

For the remainder of the lesson the first years read silently as Garrow walked around the room, watching them to make sure that they read what they were supposed to and didn't say a single word. Nobody dared to speak, and at the end of the class, Garrow dismissed them after announcing that he required a twenty four inch essay by next class. Nobody dared to protest until they were well out of Garrow's earshot.

"I can't believe we have to give him a two foot essay by next class! That is so not fair," whined Sirius as they walked through the halls after dinner. "And he is so uptight. I hate him already." Evie made a sound of agreement as they walked through the portrait hole, moving immediately to the comfortable couches and armchairs in front of the fire, Sirius throwing himself down on a three-seater couch, folding his hands behind his head and taking up the entire length of the sofa. Evie curled up in an armchair, bringing her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees, wrapping her arms around her shins.

When Scorpius entered, he came over to sit in an armchair beside Evie's. "Hello, Scorpius," she greeted him quietly, not looking away from the flames that had entranced her as they flickered in the hearth, enveloping her in the warmth that they radiated as she lost herself in the dancing sparks. He returned the greeting and received another from Sirius, which he also reiterated. They sat there for a while, each lost in their own thoughts and none of them wanting to start their homework.

"Well, you see, Al, I actually think it's good that we got all of our reading done on the first day so that we don't have to do reading every day for homework; the essay is a way for him to make sure that the information is repeated so that it can be better engrained in our minds. And he's strict, but he seems fair. I don't know what you have to gripe about." Sirius wondered again how in the world she didn't get sorted into Ravenclaw. Rose seemed like a scholar to the core.

"Hey, Rose!" he called from the couch, grinning over at her, and this time she managed to reign in the blush before it could spread across her face. "Albus," he added, nodding at the other boy.

The two other first years moved to sit by them in the armchairs closest to the fire. Rose turned to Evie. "You're really good at Potions; how did you know all that about making the serum stronger?" she questioned curiously, her thirst for knowledge evident on her eager face.

Evie cocked her head slightly, considering the question. "Well, I'm not quite sure, actually; it's sort of like instinct, and it kind of comes naturally to me," she replied thoughtfully in her quiet voice, seeming honestly to be unsure about the exact reason why she was so adept at Potions. She continued to stare pensively at the flames, as though the answer was dancing somewhere in its depths, close enough to feel but still hidden from her.

Suddenly, Evie stood up, her gaze finally breaking away from the fire in the hearth as she grabbed her book bag from the floor beside her armchair. "Well, there's really no use putting off that essay any longer," she said softly, and Rose nodded in approval before standing as well and mimicking her actions. The two girls settled at one of the tables, and the boys continued to sit by the fire, rolling their eyes at what they considered a waste of valuable time that could be better spent doing absolutely nothing.

They'd been working for a while—at least a couple hours—when Rose suddenly spoke up. "So, do you think that human transfiguration or interphase transfiguration is more difficult?" she asked, looking up from the words she was scribbling across her parchment.

Evie regarded her thoughtfully before answering slowly, "Well, technically, the most difficult would be gas to solid transfiguration would be hardest seeing as the way the molecules have to be manipulated, but some elements of human transfiguration involve interphase components, so those would be most difficult, I would say."

Rose nodded slowly before saying in reply, "But then it depends on what you're transfiguring into what; if it's a transfiguration of a single molecule into multiple molecules, or vice versa, then it's far more difficult that human transfiguration, which only ever involves proportional molecular changes."

"Yes, that makes sense," agreed Evie quietly. "Right, so disproportional molecular transfiguration is the most difficult type of transfiguration; I would definitely agree with that." Evie smiled slightly. "It's nice to have an intellectual conversation for once. Usually I'm with Sirius, and the idiot has three favorite topics: food, Quiddich and girls." They both laughed softly at this. "He would never talk to me about the difficulty of interphase versus human transfiguration; he probably doesn't even know what either one is. Although, transfiguration is his best subject in practice; I'd even say he's better than me at it, not that it's one of my best subjects."

"Well, I'm better at subject theory right now, seeing as I've been reading books on magic for a long time but have never been able to actually use magic," Rose admitted. "So I know all about the things we'll be learning but I can't actually cast more than a few spells."

"Same here," replied Evie, smiling, "I've tried to cast a couple spells, and I've got Lumos and the levitation spell down, but that's about it. Even though I've read up on things and I know the theoretical stuff for magic that we'll be learning up until sixth year, I still have to get all the practical stuff down."

Suddenly a voice called from across the room at the couches in front of the fire, "Hey, you girls fancy sleeping or are you going for an all-nighter on the second day here?" called Sirius, an amused inflection lacing his tone. Evie glanced at her watch, realizing that it was already almost ten o'clock. Who knew time flew when you're writing essays, she thought wryly, smiling slightly. Even she didn't consider writing essays to be fun; necessary, but definitely not fun. Having an intellectual conversation with Rose, on the other hand, was entertaining and very enlightening as well.

Evie went over to them and drew Sirius into a hug. "Goodnight," she said softly before pulling away. She nodded to the other boys and then began to head up the staircase to her dormitory. Rose hugged Albus and bid the boys goodnight before following Evie up the stairs, leaving Scorpius, Sirius and Albus in the common room alone with a group of fifth years talking in the corner. They too trudged up to bed, tired after their first day of classes following the long summer and resigning themselves to the fact that tomorrow , they would have to do the same thing all over again. At least they had time to sleep in between.

In both the girls' and boys' dorms, everyone was preparing for bed, brushing their teeth and changing into pajamas. The three other girls in their dorm were already asleep, so they tried to be as quiet as possible. The boys, however, only had one other roommate who was still awake, so they didn't have to worry. Sirius didn't think he was very tired, but contrary to this thought, the moment his head hit the pillow he fell into a deep sleep, the world of dreams drawing him into its depths.

**A/N: **By the way, interphase transfiguration is regarding the phases of matter, if that confused anyone. This chapter wasn't very eventful because it was meant to start the friendship between Rose and Evie. So how about you leave a review? You know you want to!


	8. Chapter 7: There's a Place

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Harry Potter… well, I think I'd be popping out more bestsellers rather than slumming with my wannabe stories on the internet, with half my characters stolen from another book because I'm just that creative. Just saying.

**A/N: **Sorry for the semi-long wait, but I was grounded from the computer for a while there… stupid sisters… anyway, here's a brand new chapter for y'all. Enjoy!

**Chapter 7: There's a Place**

"But Puddlemere United is so obviously the best team," announced Sirius passionately, his eyes sparkling with the conviction that his statement was indisputably true. However, Albus obviously disagreed with his announcement, if the frown and swift shake of his head was anything to go by. He pushed up his glasses, which had slid down his nose slightly from the force with which he shook his head.

"Rubbish!" he replied with just as much certainty ringing in his words. "The Caerphilly Catapults have won the most matches so far this season, so they obviously have a better team put together this year," he stated matter-of-factly, smacking the palm of his hand against the tablecloth before him for emphasis, upsetting his plate of eggs and bacon in the process.

"Well, Puddlemere has the record for most matches won in a decade straight, and they've won the European Cup twice compared to Caerphilly's one win; I mean, you can't generalize the merit of a team based on a single season, when any number of factors could contribute to their performance," Sirius informed Albus with a single downward nod of his head in satisfaction that he'd made his point. When Albus tried to protest, saying that only the current season was really relevant, the smug expression dropped from Sirius' face; to drown out Albus' arguments, he burst into a rather loud and off-key rendition of "Beat Back those Bludgers, Boys, and Chuck that Quaffle Here" in enthusiastic support of his team.

From Sirius' left, Evie rolled her eyes and leaned over the table to ask Rose in a conspiratorial stage-whisper, "What do you think?" She regarded the silver utensils sitting on either side of her plate before picking up one in each hand. "Should I use this lovely spoon," she began, considering the aforementioned piece of silverware, "or this wonderful knife," she weighed the other instrument in her opposite hand, "to kill myself?"

Rose looked for a moment as though she were lost in thought before she answered, "Well, I assume a quick slash to the throat would cause less suffering than choking to death, so I'd go for the knife if I were you."

Apparently, their banter had caught Sirius' attention and he decided that he wouldn't condone being left out on all the fun. He slung an arm around Evie's shoulders and pulled her up against his side, sending a mock-glare Rose's way. "Don't encourage Evie to commit suicide! My poor heart couldn't take it! And I would have no one to copy off of in potions," he added.

"Well, glad to hear you've got such honorable reasons for being concerned over my well-being," began Evie sarcastically, though there was a hint of a smirk touching her lips, "but I assure you that your fears are entirely unfounded. Why in the world would I pass up a good opportunity to ruin your life by ridding myself from it?" Now she let the smirk take over her face, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Sirius harrumphed loudly, letting his arm fall to his side in obvious indication that he thought her comment warranted her unworthy of his protection. She just shrugged and brushed off her shoulders, which clearly stated that she thought his protection to be unneeded and not helpful in the slightest. Evie was glad that she'd gotten the boys off the topic of Quiddich, and after a few moments she pushed her plate away from her, having cleared it by this point. Glancing at the clock, she stood from her seat and turned to her friends. "We should head to class."

After they all voiced words of agreement, the four stood up and made their way out of the Great Hall. On their way to their first class of the day, which was charms with Professor Tanner, the good-natured Head of Hufflepuff House, Rose suddenly whipped her head around to survey each member of the group. "Where's Scorpius?" she finally questioned, a mixture of worry and confusion flitting across her face. "I didn't see him at breakfast this morning."

A look of mild worry passed Sirius' face as well as he replied, his voice betraying only a slight hint of unease, "I think we should wait to see if he's in class before we start panicking." Upon hearing the agreement of the rest of the party, they all resumed their trek to the Charms classroom, all of them concerned for their new friend's wellbeing, although she hid it better than others. Evie's mind was working frantically to run down all the possible scenarios in her head, but her outward appearance was one of complete and total calm.

When they reached the classroom only to find one white-blond head absent from the crowd of students that had already accumulated within the room, their worry intensified tenfold. When the class started and Scorpius still hadn't shown up, they began to outright panic, finding that they couldn't pay attention to the lesson no matter how hard they tried. They spent the entire class period exchanging glances, and Evie was glad that she had the knowledge to be able to practice the charm they were learning later in the common room so that she wouldn't get behind so early in the year.

She hadn't gotten to know Scorpius all too well yet; she'd only talked to him a couple times in classes and during meals, but he seemed nice enough to her. He wasn't arrogant or rude, and he seemed like quite a nice person when you got past his wary, defensive behavior. She definitely liked him, and saw a potential for a good relationship between herself and the boy. She was genuinely concerned about his wellbeing now, as were the rest of her friends. She knew that they were the only people who really spoke to him and that no one else would even notice his absence, or care enough to look into it. They were the closest things to friends he had, so Evie felt responsible to ensure his happiness and health.

When the class finally ended, they hastened to the door before breaking into an all-out sprint as soon as they entered the hallway beyond. They ran through the stone corridors of the school as thought running from the devil himself, never stopping for fear of the pain and fatigue catching up with them after their adrenaline wore off. They continued at breakneck speed through the school, climbing one moving staircase after another as they scoured the halls. There was no sign of their blond haired housemate, and they were about to go find a teacher to help when they suddenly ran across a pile of black cloth just outside the fat lady's portrait.

They were about to pass it right by when the pile let out a low groan of pain, stopping them dead in their tracks and almost making them collide with each other and creating a pileup like the cars of train. In one fluid movement, as though they were all controlled by one brain, the four Gryffindors whipped around and rushed over to the heap on the floor, realizing with a jolt that it was shaped vaguely like a person curled up in the fetal position. Albus got there first with his slight, sinewy runner's body and reached out a hand to the figure, and when Evie, Rose, and Sirius arrived they all lent a hand in helping the body into an upright position with its back against the wall.

Evie had to bite back a gasp at realizing the only feature indicating the boy's identity was his shock of white-blond hair; Scorpius Malfoy's face was completely unrecognizable through the bruises and blood that adorned his pale, aristocratic features. The swelling distorted his visage into one of grotesque, bulging flesh tinted with dark shades of purple and covered with drying blood. She held back the urge to double over and wretch right in the middle of the hallway as her stomach twisted with disgust at the person who would do this to an eleven year old boy. It was sick, really, and she felt her heart go out to her injured housemate.

When she finally regained control of her bodily functions, she trusted herself enough to speak. "We should bring him to the infirmary right away. Back away; I can levitate him." She then pulled her wand from her robe pocket, training it on Malfoy and adopting an expression of fierce concentration. After a few seconds she called in a whisper, "_Wingardium Leviosa_," and she would have smiled had the situation not been so dire. They were about to leave for the Hospital Wing When another sound came from the injured boy. It was a few minutes before Evie realized that he was trying to speak, and she leaned in closer to catch the murmured words.

"No… Hospital Wing," he managed to gasp out, his words no more than a breath of air. He winced in pain, and Evie felt another pang of sympathy as she realized that he probably had similar abrasions all over his body that would cause speech, and probably movement in general, to be exceedingly painful.

A frown line appeared between her eyebrows as she looked at the floating boy in front of her before she said quietly, "Why not the hospital wing? Don't you want Madam Pomphrey to patch you up?" Her voice was kind and questioning, and she hoped she conveyed her concern and the reassurance that he could confide in her.

"You kidding?" he managed to croak, trying for a grin that turned out as more of a pained grimace of bruised, bloody flesh that made Evie's heart clench. "Old bat's… going senile." Evie returned his attempt to smile half-heartedly, knowing that there was a very different reason that he was keeping from her.

Evie sighed deeply before posing a quiet question to the group at large, "Is there anywhere we can take him where we won't be found? I've taken the liberty of making some of the simpler healing potions before the start of term as a back-up stash so that I won't have to visit the infirmary if it isn't absolutely necessary. I hate hospitals," she added, giving an involuntary shudder as the image of blinding, sterile white walls and the scent of sickness assaulted her consciousness.

Suddenly, Albus spoke up. "I know a place where we can take him. Here, let Scorpius down for a moment so that you can run up to grab your potions; don't worry, we'll stay with him," he added reassuringly at the look of uncertainty that momentarily passed across her face. Hesitating for only a moment longer, she finally let the blond down gently and entered the common room, sprinting up the stairs and making a mess of her belongings as she dug frantically through her trunk before coming out with a wooden box in her hands and a grim but victorious smile on her face.

When she returned to the corridor, Rose immediately lifted Scorpius with a levitating charm as Albus began to lead them quickly away from the portrait hole, trying to move swiftly, but not so much so that Scorpius would get jostled and risk being hurt even worse. They counted themselves lucky that the Gryffindor first years had a free period at the moment so that they wouldn't miss a class due to the unfortunate turn of events.

When they stopped suddenly, Evie collided with Sirius' back, nearly dropping her box of potions in the process. As it were, they began to fall from her hands but she somehow managed to catch them on the way down. The abrupt halt left her flustered, and she became annoyed when she realized that there were no doors off of the corridor that could possibly lead to this safe place Albus had told them of; they were wasting precious time that could be used to heal Scorpius. When Albus began walking back and forth along the length of the hallway, her irritation quickly changed to outrage; it appeared that he was thinking hard, so perhaps he didn't really know a safe place to bring Scorpius after all. She glared at a tapestry on the wall depicting trolls in tutus and seethed inwardly.

Evie was completely taken aback when a door suddenly appeared in the wall directly opposite the tapestry. In fact, she was so shocked that she again nearly dropped the wooden box from her hands, somehow managing to hold onto it once more. She quickly pulled herself back together as Albus opened the door and ushered them all inside quickly, before glancing up and down the hallway to make sure no one had seen them as he, too, slipped into the room beyond.

Upon seeing the place they had entered, Evie couldn't hold in her gasp of wonder. Inside was a room that was a nearly flawless replica of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing to which Scorpius was so afraid to go. The only difference was the size of the room and the fact that there was only a single bed surrounded by four chairs that were far more comfortable than those found in the real infirmary. Rose quickly and rather expertly maneuvered Scorpius onto the single crisp white bed as Evie glanced around the room nervously. "Wish everything wasn't so ruddy bright," she muttered uneasily to herself. She actually let out a little yelp of surprise as suddenly the entire room's color scheme morphed into a warm, welcoming array of red and gold.

She stared at the room around her in awed bewilderment, reaching out to touch one of the transformed walls and recoiling immediately afterward, as though expecting something to jump out and bite her hand off. Albus laughed at her reaction as he explained, "This is the Room of Requirements. It provides you with anything you could ever need; all you have to do is think of what you require and 'poof!' it's right here." He sounded proud to be the bequeath-er of this knowledge, and Evie was in such a state of shocked wonder that she didn't even think to comment on his smugness.

Her awestruck reverie was crushed rather harshly when Scorpius let out another painful groan and, forgetting her amazement completely for the time being, she rushed over to his bedside. She sat down at the head of his bed and set her box on the bedside table before opening it and taking out her potion vials and jars of ointment. Unscrewing the cap on one of the jars, she set to work spreading the pale green cream across the bruises on his face. He winced slightly but didn't make a sound. When she was finished with her Murtlap essence, she moved onto the pain relief potion, uncorking it and handing it to the blond boy on the bed; he gulped it down obediently, barely making a face at the foul taste of the concoction before closing his eyes.

"I would give you a sleeping drought," she began in a soft voice, "But we have classes in a few hours, so you won't be able to sleep for too long. By the time we get there, most of your bruises should be gone. The skin will still be a bit tender, so try not to touch your face too much, but I think you'll be fine," she concluded reassuringly. "Now, am I correct in assuming that you have some injuries elsewhere as well?" At his silent nod she sighed, saying quietly, "Well, it looks like you'll be needing some more Murtlap essence then; I have some extra in the dormitory." She turned to rose and continued, "Do you think you can take over from here? There's a bit more Murtlap in this jar, so you can start with the wounds on his back and stomach, and we'll finish it up when I return with more."

Without waiting for an answer, Evie turned to the door and left the room of requirement, heading to the dormitory to retrieve her healing salve.

As she watched the door to the Room of Requirements click shut behind Evie, Rose couldn't hide the hint of color that sprang to her cheeks and the heat that burned her ears, which were no doubt beat red by now. She had inherited this particular annoying tendency from her easily flustered father, and she rather resented him for it. Hoping her bushy hair concealed the offending body parts, she stepped up to Scorpius' bedside, the heat in her face intensifying. She coughed lightly and Scorpius opened his eyes to peer up at her blushing face. "Erm, ah… I think you'll have to take off your shirt," she finally managed to utter, the scarlet color adorning her face darkening if possible.

He carefully slipped out of his outer robes, handing them to Rose, who slung them across the back of the chair beside her. Then he began to undo the buttons of the crisp white shirt underneath, which was stained slightly bright red with blood; the sight of the red fluid caused bile to rise slightly in her throat, but she pushed it back down as he winced and pulled a sharp intake of air into his lungs. She reached forward unthinkingly to help him remove the garment, unfastening the rest of the buttons before sliding it carefully off of his shoulders. She didn't allow the blush to appear on her face this time, chastising herself for getting distracted by her embarrassment as she began to apply the ointment to his wounds.

When she was finished with his stomach and chest and had begun with his back, she heard the door open and looked up to see Evie. She was glad of the other girl's return, because the supply of cream within the jar of her hand was quickly becoming exhausted. With one last dap, it was finally used up, and Evie came over with the second jar. Taking it from her, Rose quickly unscrewed the cap and began again with her work on Scorpius' wounds while the rest of them sat back in silence for a moment, watching as she finished and the potions began to take effect.

After they'd been watching him for a while, Sirius stood from his seat and said, "It's approaching lunch time. We should go to the kitchens to grab something to eat."

"I have a better idea," Albus concurred, motioning for the other boy to sit back down. Sirius complied as Albus clapped his hands together, calling in a clear voice, "Kreature!" As he said this, Rose glared over at him, angry that he was calling on a house elf to do their bidding rather than simply allowing Sirius to go down and fetch the food himself.

Rose noted how Evie started slightly as a loud crack filled the room, and let out a little shriek as a small, big-eyed creature in a ragged tea cozy appeared seemingly out of thin air. "What does Young Master Potter wish for, sir?" squeaked the elf in its slightly raspy voice. Rose had a feeling, based on Evie's expression of self-aggravation, that this was probably the most times she'd been startled in a single day for quite some time, if ever. As Albus asked for some chicken sandwiches and five glasses of pumpkin juice, the creature, which Rose knew to be a house elf, readily complied, bringing the desired items back in a matter of moments.

Her mother had taught her that all magical beings should be treated fairly, and not forced into slavery the way house elves were, but after much pestering from Albus, she finally allowed her resolve to crumble and resigned herself to eating the food she was offered.

Suddenly, Evie spoke up from her chair by the bed, her voice quiet but strong as always. "So, Scorpius, are you ready to tell us what happened?"

He shifted uncomfortably on the bed, only wincing slightly as his recently re-adorned clothing brushed against his bruised back. "Well, it's… kind of a long story," he began hesitantly, obviously not really wanting to tell them.

"Scorpius," Rose spoke up gently, placing her hand tenderly on his arm in order not to press too hard upon any of his healing abrasions. "If you don't tell us what happened, how will we be able to stop it from happening again? We want to help you," she added compassionately.

He sighed deeply, reaching a hand up to rub his eyes wearily before seeming to decide that this wouldn't be such a good idea and returning his hand to the mattress beside him. He didn't speak for a few moments, just stared off into space lost in thought, seeming to look off into some distant memory that only he could see. As his expression twisted in a mixture of pain and despair at the thoughts undoubtedly racing through his mind, Rose felt her heart reach out to the boy. She didn't remove her hand from his arm, but rather rubbed it up and down soothingly, encouraging him to return to the present and speak, confiding in them his secrets so that they could share his apparent burden.

Finally, he seemed to steel himself before he opened his mouth to begin his confession. "Well, you see, since I was very little I had different opinions on the world than my parents did; I didn't despise Muggles and I wasn't particularly ambitious or cunning. In short, I wasn't at all like a Slytherin, and in my family that's almost as bad as being a squib. In fact, I displayed many qualities that my father considered far too… Gryffindor… for his taste. So he did the only thing he knew to try and change me." He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath and plowing on, his voice shaking ever so slightly in a way that was almost imperceptible as he continued, "He would try to beat and curse the Gryffindor-ness out of me, see."

Rose involuntarily let out a small gasp at this proclamation, and her hand moved from Scorpius' arm to his own hand, squeezing it gently in a gesture of reassurance that she was there for him. He squeezed back to convey his thanks for the signal of comfort before continuing. "He wasn't joking in his Howler when he said the consequences would be dire if he found me associating with the other Gryffindors. When he discovered that I was, he sent word to his friends' kids in Slytherin and told them to teach me a lesson. So they did," he finished rather listlessly, his blank face and emotionless tone successfully hiding his feelings, but his eyes betrayed him, giving away his pain and disappointment.

Rose squeezed his hand once again, but this time received nothing in return. After a moment, she decided to repeat the gesture, just to make sure that he wouldn't close himself off completely from her. For some reason, she found that she dreaded his rejection of their friendship, because she felt the astonishing urge to protect him all of a sudden. To her utter relief, he finally squeezed her hand in his, dispelling her fears immediately and instilling a feeling of warm happiness within her heart.

It was quiet after Scorpius' story, and all of the first years sat in silence, each immersed in their own thoughts as the time slowly ticked by. Scorpius' wounds were slowly healing, and by the time they had to return to classes, he was well enough to stand and accompany them to Herbology.


End file.
